(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Janet Frankston on July 16.)
NEWARK, N.J. — After commuting on New Jersey Transit for seven years, David Dik has learned to build delay time into his ride from Glen Ridge, N.J., to Manhattan.
He blames some of the lateness on the high volume of traffic squeezed into the single tunnel under the Hudson River that handles hundreds of commuter trains between Penn Station in New York and New Jersey each day as well as Amtrak intercity trains.
“Once you get out of the tunnel, things seem to move,’’ he said on a recent morning after his train pulled into Penn Station about five minutes late.
He and other commuters could get some relief in the next decade if a $6 billion project pushed by officials from New York and New Jersey receives federal funding. They want to build a second two-track train tunnel under the Hudson River to double rail capacity between the two states.
Transportation officials say it would save commuters at least seven minutes per trip, ease traffic congestion and allow more frequent service.
The project, known officially as “Access to the Region’s Core,’’ is expected to clear a major hurdle this week from the federal government.
The Federal Transit Administration plans to notify Congress that it intends to approve an application to move into the preliminary engineering phase, said Paul Griffo, a spokesman for the agency, which doles out more than $1.5 billion annually for new capital projects around the country.
The designation would not come with an immediate earmark of funding, but would allow its sponsor, New Jersey Transit, to compete for future federal funds. The largest chunk of long-term money the FTA has distributed to date was $750 million for a transit extension to San Franciso’s airport.
The New York-New Jersey project seeks a larger federal commitment, about $3 billion.
But in order to move into the phase in which the FTA commits large-scale, long-term funding, NJ Transit must prove it can pay for its share.
The project already has some heavy hitters behind it, most notably the four U.S. senators from New Jersey and New York, who wrote to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in May to urge financial backing for the project.
“It’s good for people on both sides of the Hudson River,’’ said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.
In addition to getting people in and out of Manhattan quickly to accommodate anticipated population and economic growth, it would give commuters in New York’s Rockland and Orange counties a direct route into New York without transferring, he said.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., called the project “a critical one for our state and our region.’’
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine has already committed $500 million. New York Gov. George Pataki has said he supports the project, but has not yet allocated any state money, said a spokeswoman.
One of the biggest backers is the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Anthony Coscia. He is pushing for the bistate agency to commit $2 billion to the project. The authority’s board last December included the project in its list of priorities.
“The system is at capacity,’’ Coscia said. “At the end of this decade, what is a horrible commute will be worse.’’
He said adding road capacity is not the answer to the region’s congestion.
“Our business is to move people around the region,’’ he said. “Forty years ago, that meant building bridges and tunnels for cars. Today it’s building the kind of capacity that mass transit can use.’’
As proposed, the tunnel would begin in North Bergen and continue under Union City and Hoboken, extending to a new station under 34th Street in Manhattan.
It would create four tracks between the two states, giving NJ Transit flexibility when Amtrak trains run late, said Dan Stessel, a spokesman for the agency.
Because Amtrak owns, operates and maintains the Northeast Corridor line into Penn Station, its trains are given priority.
“When Amtrak has a problem, we feel the pain,’’ Stessel said.
Of the 19,392 NJ Transit trains that operated in May, 734 were delayed. Stessel said the majority were on the Northeast Corridor or North Jersey Coast Line and others which run on Amtrak-owned tracks.
The tunnel would significantly reduce, if not eliminate, congestion-related delays, he said.
“It is the biggest choke point on the Northeast Corridor today,’’ Stessel said.
The tunnel would also provide a direct ride for commuters to Manhattan on several NJ Transit lines, avoiding transfers at Newark and Secaucus Junction. That would save at least 10 minutes each way, he said. Passengers on lines that have direct service to Penn Station would save up to seven minutes per trip.
For commuters, the idea of a shorter commute is a gift. Colin Rose, who takes the train from Dunellen in Middlesex County to Manhattan, said his trains are late 50 percent of the time.