Construction on the Gateway tunnel project — the largest public works effort in the United States — is expected to pause in early February unless the Trump administration releases federal funding that has been withheld since last fall, according to a person familiar with the project who was granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
The $16 billion project, which involves building a pair of rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River to connect New York and New Jersey, is rapidly running out of available funds. A construction halt scheduled for Feb. 6 would result in layoffs affecting roughly 1,000 workers, including hundreds of laborers currently active across multiple job sites.
The Trump administration previously threatened to defund the project at the beginning of last year’s government shutdown. While some administration officials have since suggested the project would eventually receive funding, the signals from Washington have remained inconsistent.
President Donald Trump has publicly mocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — a longtime advocate for the tunnel — describing the project as having been “terminated.” The two leaders met privately earlier this month, during which Schumer warned the president that construction cannot continue without immediate federal support. Under commitments made during the Biden administration, the federal government pledged to cover the majority of the project’s cost.
So far, construction has continued without interruption because the Gateway Development Commission, the bistate agency overseeing the project, secured a $500 million line of credit from Bank of America. That financial cushion, however, is nearly exhausted.
The agency is expected to address the funding crisis during a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday. A construction pause would impact four of the project’s five active work sites, while a fifth location continues to operate with separate funding from Amtrak.
Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association and a prominent supporter of the project, said he intends to testify at the meeting. He acknowledged that discussions are underway to identify alternative short-term funding options that could prevent an immediate shutdown.
One proposal under consideration involves securing a letter of credit from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. However, it remains unclear whether the two states would be willing to assume a greater share of the financial burden for a project they are unable to fund independently.
“It might buy time, but if it doesn’t solve the problem, even advocates for the tunnel aren’t sure it makes sense to do or not,” Wright said.
Wright warned that a construction pause at this stage could threaten the viability of the entire project, noting that large-scale infrastructure efforts are difficult to restart once work has stopped.
“When they cut the cord somewhere along the way, you can’t just pick it up a week or a month or six months later and say let’s get going again,” he said.
The Gateway project has faced setbacks before. In 2009, officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking for an earlier version of the tunnel. That effort collapsed a year later when then–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie withdrew state funding, forcing crews to abandon and refill partially completed tunnel entrances.
Originally reported by Ry Rivard in Politico.
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