Fund woes won’t stop Gateway

NO FUNDING? No matter.

Officials overseeing the first phase of the Gateway project said Friday that they’ll make progress on their own, in the face of opposition from President Trump.

“There’s an inevitability to this project — it will happen,” said Steve Cohen, chair of the Gateway Development Corp.

The first phase is a new $1.6 billion replacement of New Jersey’s Portal North Bridge and new $13 billion tunnel under the Hudson River, plus repairs to the current 107-year-old tunnel.

As the project moves along with local funds, there is a vote on a spending bill in Congress next week that could provide funding — an effort that led Trump to threaten a veto of the package.

“One way or another that money is going to be included,” Cohen, a former Gov. Cuomo aide, said.

If construction starts late, however, the costs will grow each day — $1.2 million a day for the tunnel starting mid-2019 and $150,000 a day for the bridge beginning in mid-2018.

The need for a new crossing was apparent Friday when the Portal Bridge was stuck open, ruining commutes.

“This morning is an example of what happens to commuters and the economy when the federal government is missing in action,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said.

The funding impasse had Kathy Wylde, director of the pro-business group Partnership for New York City, urging Gateway officials to “regroup and take a fresh look” at its approach to getting the project complete.

“We’ve pulled out every stop we can, and I think our congressional delegation has done the same,” Wylde said. “We have to take a fresh look.”

Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News he’d pleaded the project’s case to the President at a St. Patrick’s Day event on Thursday in what he described as a “cordial” conversation.