(The following article by David A. Michaels was posted on the Bergen Record website on January 20.)
BERGEN, N.J. — New Jersey has moved another step closer to building a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, state officials said Friday.
The Federal Transit Administration, the gatekeeper of federal transit funding, has approved the state’s draft environmental impact statement, according to NJ Transit officials. The statement describes the state’s options for building the tunnel, which would run through protected wetlands, and its potential impact on buildings and the environment.
The tunnel would give Bergen County riders a transfer-free ride into Manhattan and double the passenger-rail capacity into midtown. NJ Transit hopes to begin construction by 2009.
The state must now hold at least two public hearings — one in New Jersey and one in New York — about the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, federal officials said.
Other agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and New York City government, also may comment on the proposals.
“This is our first opportunity to get comprehensive public input, and we need that to advance the design,” said Rich Sarles, NJ Transit’s assistant executive director of capital programs.
Sarles said he did not think the tunnel would have any negative impacts, although the agency would have to agree to restore some lost wetlands as the project moves forward.
The FTA has not agreed to fund the $7.2 billion project, but it has approved several incremental steps, including the start of preliminary engineering in July.
NJ Transit hopes to begin negotiating a funding agreement in about a year, Sarles said.
NJ Transit also is heading an expansion of the Portal Bridge, a two-track, century-old bridge over the Hackensack River that slows train traffic on the Northeast Corridor between Trenton and Manhattan.
New Jersey officials announced the FTA’s decision late Friday, after Governor Corzine and New York Gov.
Eliot Spitzer met at Hoboken Terminal to discuss homeland security and transportation investments.
The two governors said they discussed how they would use the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency rich with revenue from tolls and airport fees, to fund regional transportation projects.
The Port Authority has pledged $2 billion for the tunnel project.
They also pressed the case for more federal funding for transportation security.
The two governors sent a joint letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urging him to boost the amount of funding given to New York and northern New Jersey, which form a single region for funding purposes.
The $250 million spent on mass-transit security since 9/11 shows that “it just has not been prioritized enough in the national debate,” Corzine said.
“I feel kind of like a college student calling home and saying, ‘Just send money,’ “ Spitzer said.