Credit: Gateway Development Commission
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration on Thursday had “terminated” funding for Gateway, a project that includes two new tunnels under the Hudson River, and is considered the most urgent infrastructure project in the country. During a White House press conference, Trump said his administration had used the federal shutdown to kill federally funded projects, particularly in Democratic states, including the $16 billion tunnel program. It remains unclear what the president meant by this or whether Gateway has already lost federal funding, according to the New York Times.
The apparent termination continues Trump’s efforts to target federally funded projects in Democratic strongholds, including New York. During his announcement, he focused on the project’s association with Sen. Chuck Schumer, a longtime Gateway supporter, emphasizing Schumer’s role in securing funding for the tunnels.
“It’s billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get,” the president said, according to the Times. “Tell him it’s terminated.”
The $30 billion Gateway Project is a transformative initiative designed to improve transportation infrastructure across the Northeast Corridor. A key component is the Hudson River Tunnel project, which is constructing a new two-tube rail tunnel under the river and rehabilitating the aging tunnels that connect NY and New Jersey.
The existing pair, over 110 years old, sustained significant damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and has continued to deteriorate since, as 6sqft previously reported. The tunnel’s aging infrastructure requires constant maintenance, causing chronic delays for hundreds of thousands of riders. In 2020, passengers experienced more than 12,600 minutes of delays.
Despite its aging condition, the tunnel is still a critical part of the economy. If it were to shut down for just one day, it would cost the nation’s economy roughly $100 billion, as 6sqft previously reported.
In a post on X, Schumer called Trump’s action “petty revenge politics” and described Gateway as the most important infrastructure project in the nation.
“Gateway is the most important infrastructure project in America—period,” Schumer said. “It will keep our economy moving, our region connected, and tens of thousands of union workers on the job. Donald Trump trying to kill it again is pure spite and stupidity.”
He added, “It’s petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy, and kill good-paying jobs. It’s vindictive, reckless, and foolish.”
In February 2023, President Joe Biden announced a $292 million investment in the tunnel project, part of a $649 million effort to extend the concrete casing between Penn Station and the Hudson River before full construction could begin.
Work began two years ago to prepare a site on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, N.J., where tunnel-boring machines are scheduled to arrive next summer to start carving the tunnels beneath the Hudson River.
According to Streetsblog, Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Steven Bradbury highlighted the project’s “national importance” during his confirmation hearing earlier this year, and Secretary Sean Duffy reiterated earlier this month that the administration is “not trying to shut down these projects.”
Despite this, Trump signaled his intent to nix Gateway earlier this month, announcing that his administration would withhold $18 billion for the Second Avenue Subway and the Hudson River Tunnel project, citing the state’s “unconstitutional DEI principles.
The president also recently withheld $34 million in vital transit security funding for the city’s subway and regional rail systems, making New York the only one of 21 applicants nationwide to be denied. Just a week earlier, Gov. Kathy Hochul had successfully secured the restoration of $187 million in counterterrorism and homeland security funding that the Department of Homeland Security had initially planned to cut.
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