North Bergen, New Jersey – Where the original train tunnel connects under the Hudson River Manhattan The road to New Jersey was built more than a century ago, and workers toiled with picks and shovels on each side until it finally met in the middle.
new tunnel, One of the largest mass transit projects in the United States A generation-long project that is expected to cost $16 billion, it will certainly take a modern approach.
Giant drilling machines nearly two football fields long and equipped with cutters stronger than diamonds that can chew through dense rock. A crew of about 40 people will oversee a conveyor system that transports debris as well as equipment needed to stabilize the tunnel’s curved concrete lining.
“This is a fully automated underground factory,” said James Stares, head of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission, the public agency formed by New York and New Jersey that is implementing the tunnel project.
Starache, wearing a hard hat and yellow safety vest, stood Tuesday in a trench cut into the hills across the river from New York City. Behind him rose Two-story wall of solid rock Where, if all goes as planned, by 2035, trains will speed in and out of the tunnel, relieving a bottleneck in the country’s busiest commuter rail corridor.
Hamed Nejad, the project’s chief engineer, said the tunnel boring machines arrived from Germany “like Lego pieces” in nearly 100 different components. Outside the tunnel’s futuristic entrance, sparks flew as a team of welders combined pieces of massive cutting heads.
Danny Pearlstein, spokesman for the transportation advocacy group Riders Alliance, said America is no longer accustomed to building mega projects of this size, which has contributed to the cost.
“What’s amazing about Gateway is not just the size and scope of the project, it’s just that it took this long to get this far,” Perlstein said.
The machines are expected to take about a year to grind the first section of the New Jersey Palisades, made of solid volcanic rock, once drilling begins later this year, according to Staras. This means about 30 feet of tunnels per day. Other machines will dig beneath the river bed.
The new tunnel, which includes two train tracks, will extend entirely for 2.5 miles (approximately 4 kilometers). The original two-lane tunnel, which was damaged by salt water during Superstorm Sandy, will be renovated.
The ambitious project received key approvals and funding under the Biden administration, but was nearly halted a few months ago.
Trump administration Funding freeze During the recent federal government shutdown, citing concerns that the project was allocating funds based on… Diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
With funding about to dry up in February, a federal judge ruled commander Administration to release funds. The money continued to flow as New York and New Jersey’s lawsuit against the federal government continued.
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