Exclusive: New York City train tunnel
project could tie up traffic for three years
Send a link to a friend
[December 12, 2016]
By Hilary Russ
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Traffic jams could
afflict New York City’s heavily traveled West Side Highway for three
years as a multibillion-dollar train tunnel is built under the Hudson
River, draft proposals obtained by Reuters show, feeding concern about
an area already disrupted by massive real estate development.
The draft, obtained from a transportation sector source, reveals for the
first time the actual work necessary to begin building the massive
tunnel linking New York and New Jersey. It represents a marquee
component of Amtrak's $24 billion Gateway Project to repair and expand
the heart of the critical and lucrative U.S. northeast transportation
corridor.
The plan is expected to become part of the draft environmental impact
statement to be released next summer. Experts told Reuters marine life
in the Hudson could be threatened by the work zone that is expected to
be the equivalent of four football fields in size. At its center point,
rising up from the bottom of the riverbed, will be a concrete encasement
built to protect the new tunnel.
The Gateway project is considered critical to the greater metropolitan
New York City area, which produces 10 percent of the country's economic
output, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (Map:
http://tmsnrt.rs/2hcZnRF )
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Dec/12/images/ads/current/castlemanor_lda_051916.png)
Contractors may also have to bore through a historic century-old granite
bulkhead along the river shoreline, the documents show. Reuters also
reviewed public records and conducted interviews with transportation
officials and industry sources.
Construction would not begin until at least 2019, according to public
records.
"The disruptions could be horrible," the transportation sector source
told Reuters.
Manhattan's far West Side also is grappling with disruptions from the
massive 28-acre Hudson Yards mixed-use real estate development project
that straddles the existing rail connections.
Amtrak's current century-old tunnel, a few blocks north of where the new
one would enter Manhattan at 29th Street, was damaged by flooding during
2012's Superstorm Sandy, which left behind a corrosive residue. It would
undergo repair and renovation once the new tunnel is operational.
The new tunnel could cost between $5 billion and $7 billion, a
transportation industry executive familiar with the project told Reuters
on the condition of anonymity because the figures are early non-public
estimates.
The federal government agreed to pay for half the project, with the two
states splitting the rest, though it was unclear where New York and New
Jersey will get the money.
A Port Authority of New York and New Jersey commissioner said on
Thursday that $2.7 billion for the project could be included in the
agency's next capital budget.
The Gateway project's advance comes just as President-elect Donald Trump
assumes office. During his campaign he pledged to spur $1 trillion of
infrastructure investment.
CONCEPTS EMERGE
During environmental reviews for big public works, engineering firms
often seek to identify the worst-case construction scenarios, industry
sources said.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/121216pics/news_b5.jpg)
Police officers stand guard at the entrance of Holland Tunnel
following superstorm Sandy at Jersey City in New Jersey, U.S. on
November 2, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
"We are going through this process to see what is the best way to
construct the tunnel with the least amount of impact to everyone
involved," said Nancy Snyder, spokeswoman for NJ Transit, which is
leading the environmental review.
"No construction methods are finalized," she said, calling Reuters'
information "incomplete."
The impact on New Jersey will likely be minimal, sources told
Reuters, because the concepts contain a footprint already approved
as part of a similar project called Access to the Region's Core
(ARC), which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie canceled in 2010.
Christie said at the time that the $12.4 billion project was too
expensive.
Of two main ideas taking shape, the more intrusive one calls for
contractors to dig up a partially renovated section of New York's
Hudson River Park under a "cut and cover" concept. This would limit
public access and lead to lane closures on the West Side Highway, a
major thoroughfare.
Contractors will likely also need to stabilize the ground for tunnel
boring using so-called freezing methods that involve permanently
hardening the ground because parts of Manhattan sit on landfill.
"That turns it into a tundra, and it solidifies over time," said
Denise Richardson, executive director of The General Contractors
Association of New York Inc, one of several experts who reviewed the
documents at Reuters' request.
Contractors will also likely build an underwater concrete encasement
for the tunnel to come up through the New York side of the river.
The encasement, itself larger than a football field, would
counteract buoyancy and protect the tunnel from anchors, grounded
ships and other risks. It is expected to remain hidden below the
waterline. Work in the water could span two years and encompass
224,000 square feet.
Affected onshore areas would be restored after the completion of the
project, the documents showed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Dec/12/images/ads/current/zion_lda_WORSHIP_2016.png)
Martin Robins, a former ARC project director who also reviewed the
documents, said the potential construction impact on the surrounding
area might be limited.
"I don't believe that it will have a dramatic effect," he said.
(Reporting by Hilary Russ; editing by Daniel Bases and David
Gregorio)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |