The project dubbed by some to be the most urgently needed infrastructure project in the country — also known as the Gateway program — cleared a major hurdle with the Federal Railroad Administration on Friday, at long last making it eligible for federal funding.
With the agency’s decision, the first phase of the Gateway program — the $11.6 billion plan to first build two new tunnels into New York Penn Station, shift train traffic there, and then rehabilitate the original ones rapidly decaying from Superstorm Sandy damage — can move ahead in the process for a Capital Investment Grant through the Federal Transit Administration.
Nearly $5.5 billion in federal funds is being requested, about 44% of the total project cost. Amtrak has committed nearly $1.3 billion, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will chip in $2.1 billion, and the remaining $3.35 billion would be split using state funds from New York and New Jersey.
Read more at Asbury Park Press.
{Matzav.com}
