What parameter was used to determine “50% completion”?
NJT has published a video showing progress up to April 2024 on the bridge. A nice timelapse of the construction is featured as well.
11 Likes
Why has construction on this much needed project taken so long. Also, will this project allow for freight trains to pass through Manhattan heading to Long Island and The Bronx.
The biggest reason Gateway Project is taking too long because first we NJ people unfortunately had elected an extremely terrible governor (Chris Christie) who would then kill the first iteration known as “Access to the Region’s Core” (ARC) blaming the cost of it and then shifted the money allocated for it to pay for road projects which is one of his many screwups while in office. Had ARC not been cancelled we might have had the tunnels operating right now. Then we had President Trump who delayed the current project iteration (Gateway) for years because he didn’t want to fund it and pressured the Republican Party to withhold federal funding that was allocated for it despite pressure by NY and NJ to keep funding.
As for why actual construction is taking forever, there are issues such as existing utilities being relocated (particularly on the NJ side) and the fact stabilization work on the riverbed is needed before the tunnels can be bored under the Hudson River to ensure the ground is stable and safe. One thing for sure is the Portal Bridge replacement is moving along at high speed and is already at 50% completion. Preliminary work for the actual tunnels is also slated to begin later this year.
Lastly, this project is being built to supplement existing tunnels that are in dire need of repair and to replace ageing bridges (Sawtooth and Portal) on one of the busiest passenger lines in the country. No freight travels over the portion of the line where the Gateway Project is being built and nor are there provisions being made for freight trains either.
11 Likes
This project is taking much longer than it took to build the entire rail line from New Jersey to The Bronx in the 1910’s when the North River Tunnels and old Penn Station were built by the Pennsylvania Railroad.
North River Tunnels and East River Tunnels, along with Penn Station, opened in 1910. But the Hell Gate Bridge was delayed and did not open until 1917.
But there was so much other stuff going on at the time - after all, Grand Central Terminal opened in 1913.
The scale of infrastructure development in the first couple decades of the 20th century is simply unimaginable today. Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903; NYC subway opened in 1904; Uptown Hudson Tubes in 1908; Downtown Hudson Tubes, Queensboro Bridge and Manhattan Bridge in 1909; etc. And during this time the NYC subway was continuously being extended throughout the city.
2 Likes
How were things different then compared to now that allowed for this to happen.
I am also curious about this, because with better and modern technology one would assume things would be easier today compared to 100 years ago, but in NYC sadly the opposite seems to be true in many cases.
A whole lot of things were very different.
Penn station and its tunnels were built privately, for one. Today’s projects are public projects, allowing politics to get in the way.
Safety standards were also very different. People died building those projects in the past, at rates we wouldn’t accept today. And today there are all kinds of extra requirements that add cost and time, like fire suppression, escape routes, ventilation, accessibility, and much more.
Of course environmental impact studies are a huge part of it, too. There’s plenty to debate there on how much should be spent on those and how long they should take.
But it’s also true that public projects cost much more and take far longer than they should, even given all of the above. This is true across the US, but it does seem worse in NY and CA. There’s a tendency among contractors to charge more (2x is not uncommon) for public projects than they would for the same private project and accountability on timelines does not seem to be the same.
And public agencies seem to be bad at project management. No one seems to have in-house engineering teams anymore, even when that would have clear advantages. Everything is contracted out to consultants, which adds time and cost.
9 Likes
It is true, but all of those issues that you mentioned can be also found in other first world cities such as Tokio, London, Paris, Sydney etc, yet those cities can somehow manage to get more stuff done (speaking about infrastructure projects, when it comes to skyscrapers NYC is KING!) 
1 Like
They don’t have the scale of graft that we do. Plus when the government pays for things like health care you don’t have to add it on to the workers fringe benefit package. It all adds up.
3 Likes
The Empire State Building was built in 14 months and was opened not even 24 months after being first proposed. It did come at the cost of five lives, though this was a good safety record for a project that employeed 3,400 workers. Only one of those deaths involved an iron worker.
Some more insight on the “50%” claim, which the media parroted without much analysis.
3 Likes
You can see the outline of the casing now where the earth will eventually be removed to actually form the casing itself.
17 Likes
The concrete piers in the actual river are now being cast. One already has two pillars and soon the actual part the bridge deck is affixed to will be cast. The side closer to New York has the pillar foundations being readied for concrete pouring as well. Once those two sets of pillars are cast then the bridge deck will be ready to be laid.
16 Likes
It’s finally happening. The new Hudson tunnels have received additional federal funding which means construction could possibly begin as soon as possible once construction companies hired for the project.
13 Likes
Some of the first poles to support the overhead catenary have been installed on the southern side. What’s interesting is that the poles are reminiscent of the standard PRR variety used on former PRR electrified trackage (including the rest of the NEC). No poles were installed on the northern side yet.
Some new steel is also present at the site as well, likely waiting to be installed on the newly cast piers further south.
However, on the northern side, the raised embankment where the tracks merge with the existing NEC tracks is being built.
21 Likes
I feel like these are the first new catenary poles installed since the PRR was building infrastructure.
2 Likes