Ticking Time-Bomb Tunnel
If you like the Summer of Hell, you’ll just love the catastrophe that looms if the drive for a new cross-Hudson train tunnel stalls due to lack of leadership.
The last big news was an agreement in principle that the feds would pick up half the cost, with New York and New Jersey splitting the rest. But none of the players has actually figured out where they’ll get the cash — and the price tag keeps going up.
Plus, that deal didn’t discuss how to split up the (almost inevitable) cost overruns. When Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie killed the last plan for a new tunnel in 2010, he cited the fact that his state was on the line for the entire “extra” bill.
Unless someone pushes the parties to commit, it’s going to be very hard to see any light at the end of the, uh . . . tunnel.
Without new tubes, 600,000 riders a day have to cross their fingers that the existing 106-year-old tunnel will continue to hold up. But it was beyond its fix-by date even before Superstorm Sandy dealt it a near-fatal blow in 2012.
And if even one of its two tubes has to close for urgent repairs, say goodbye to 75 percent of NJ Transit and Amtrak service between the city and Jersey.
The Summer of Hell will seem like the Summer of Paradise.
The route actually requires other major work, too, such as replacing the Portal Bridge near Secau- cus Junction and making room for new tracks at Penn Station. And the estimated cost for the total Gateway project is climbing: It just jumped $6 billion to a total of $29.1 billion.
Where will the cash come from? The answer shouldn’t be that hard: Paid out over, say, 100 years by 600,000 riders a day, the $29 billion amounts to something like $2 or $3 a ride.
But agreement on a specific financing plan is nowhere to be seen. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao calls Gateway “an absolute priority,” but that doesn’t tie the Trump team to vague Obama-era promises to find the cash somehow.
It gets worse: Broker-than-broke New Jersey gets a new governor next year. Amtrak is breaking in a new CEO. Here in New York, Gov. Cuomo is focused on fixing subways and pushing through umpteen other projects, while keeping an eye on his 2020 presidential prospects.
With no one stepping up to champion the tunnel (or, here’s a thought: figure out how to bring down the project’s cost), the day when work actually begins grows ever more distant.
Political neglect is why Penn Station’s tracks grew so dangerous. It took a series of derailments to spur major repairs, and the emergency work is now imposing major pain on commuters. Is it going to take another disaster to get the politicians moving on Gateway?