(The following article by Michael Lavitt was posted on the Trenton Times website on March 21.)
TRENTON, N.J. — Plans for a new twin-track rail tunnel under the Hudson River got a boost last week when the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council voted to support the $6 billion project that would double train capacity to New York.
The council, made up of representatives of New York City, county and state officials, tries to set priorities on regional transportation projects beneficial to the region.
The so-called Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel would run from the Meadowlands under the Palisades and the river to a train station that would be built deep below West 34th Street adjacent to the current Penn Station.
The North Jersey Regional Planning Authority, a similar body in the Garden State, had already given similar support for the new tunnel.
The tunnel was an easy call for the New York group because funding would come from New Jersey and the federal government rather than New York taxpayers. And New York companies would be sure to capture a significant part of the work, since much of it would be done on their turf.
In addition, by giving their blessing to the project that might get up to $2 billion in funding from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Yorkers are likely hoping to get some political support in the struggle against World Trade Center lease holder Larry Silverstein.
The Port Authority and Silverstein are quarrelling over who will develop the former World Trade Center site.
The tunnel needs support on both banks of the Hudson. And while a new set of tracks under the river would help New Jersey residents more than those living in New York, it’s New York businesses that would be the true beneficiaries. The employers, after all, expect revenue of three or more times each worker’s wages.
Three-quarters of the 200,000 jobs expected to be created in Manhattan over 20 years are expected to be filled by those living west of the Hudson, according to an NJ Transit presentation on the tunnel.
And New York state would make out as well, since out-of-state workers pay the same rate but get virtually no services in return.