“Nobody provides funding like I do, they say, sir, this is a tremendous tunnel, to the likes of which they haven’t seen. SAD!”
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That approach is extremely hazardous because what you perceive as a path of least resistance is actually a river of no return.
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politics are absolutely a part of yimbyism and affect what and how things get built. so i consider all of this to be on topic.
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there’s some scattershot moderating going on here
some unquestionably on-topic responses were deleted (i.e., a link to a press release announcing $30m in funding restored)
if something is flagged for moderation it will likely get deleted regardless of the merit of the flag
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LOL yes, by all means let’s build a gateway to Stasi-land.
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Because someone flagged the post with the press release regarding GDC receiving their first payment of money, here is the press release, again.
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The Portal Bridge cut-over process has commenced.
Here’s a video I found from 3 days ago showing the current status of the Portal Bridge. It’s evident that the tracks are just about ready to be attached, but catenary work is still on-going and of course, during the month-long project, signals and other infrastructure are to be tested.
I can also assume as part of the decommissioning of the one existing track, work can finish on a section of a bridge that the existing ROW blocks from being fully built which is evident at the 5:57 timestamp in the video.
Because of these issues, it makes sense that the second portion of the cut-over will take place later this year as it permits work on finishing these pieces to take place and ensure service is at least normal since the new bridge will serve trains leaving NYP while the old ROW is deactivated.
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Gateway is going to have to fight with determination to get its money back.
The President has labelled the Gateway Program as a “boondoggle” and claims he will not be responsible for cost overruns, yet he was the one who illegally withheld their funds which would make him liable for any overruns. This post is also unsurprising since tomorrow the government is expected to release more of the seized money.
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Would cost overruns happen within the next 3 years anyway, or is that something that more comes at the end of the project?
The longer work remains stopped, the more it’ll cost to get things back going. Up until the work stopped, it was progressing on time and on-budget.
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Yes, I get that, but my question is more: when exactly do we end up needing more money to pay for any potential cost overruns? Like, do we need it right now? Or is it something that tends to pile up at the end of a project as you run out of the initial allocated funds?
What I’m getting at is, let’s say there are indeed cost overruns…The ultimate question is: Can the [largely Repub] congress or Dump regime truly fuck us over in the next year or 3 years, respectively, that they’re in office (hopefully not more, but who knows) because we need more money in that short timeframe?…OR are funds to cover the inevitable cost overruns not even expected to be needed in that particular timeframe (and rather more needed towards the end of the project, outside of top the 2 timeframes referenced above)?
Setting aside the inherent contradictions embodied by disrupter-in-chief, much of his popularity has a lot to do with his willingness to address unsettling truths. With a lifetime of experience in NY development, we can’t say he also doesn’t possess an insiders knowledge of how cost overruns and outright grift fit hand to glove.
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My best guess would be towards the end since if they have to burn more cash to get things going again, the allocated budget may run out sooner, requiring more money.
The midterm elections are this year and its extremely likely Congress may flip to Democratic majority which would be beneficial and means the brakes can be applied to his agenda. The largely republican congress has essentislly allowed him to run without any checks. If the Dems win the Senate too, then things can start being potentially rolled back and that brings the ability to possibly successfully impeach Trump.
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There is no world in which Democrats win a supermajority in the Senate. If they do, I will offer to hand dig that tunnel myself.
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And once again we veer off topic.
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this is still related to the gateway project
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Yes, I agree, and what I was getting at, it’s all hot air from him, he’s basically hamstrung.
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Provided the government continues to comply and pays out the entire $205 million owed, work will be able to resume next week. The good news is that half of the money has been received so far, but $98 million still is needed to permit work to restart.
Work is well underway with activation of the Portal Bridge. Work trains are visible on the live cams which means the bridge is capable of handling trains.
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Have all the components for the German Tunnel Boring machine been paid for already? I think you posted that they already took delivery of the cutting heads, but curious how the funding might jam up the assembly.
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How are they supposed to put it together without workers? I assume the machines are paid for when they were ordered. The first machine is currently sitting on site in pieces. The second one is either in transit or somewhere still all packaged up.
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