New York’s $29.5BN Mega-Tunnel

This is something that should have been done 20 years ago but better late than never

All these 20 - 30 bil numbers don't scare me even slightly considering what we spend in 1 year on defense.

When the government says something will cost $30b in NYC, it's really going to cost $100b

These projects/repairs/upgrades should have been in place WAY before Sandy. IF we happen to get a change in presidents I'm betting the project will be put on the back burner AGAIN. NYC tunnels overall need repair. And a good amount of new ones built. When the population grows the infrastructure within has to grow and be upgraded to handle the growth! Other countries have no problem getting infrastructure done if need be!

The cost of major infrastructure projects in the US never fails to boggle my mind. A stretch of just over 10 miles costing nearly $30 billion is insane. For comparison, the currently longest railway tunnel in the world was completed 5 years ago in Switzerland - not exactly a country known for its cheap labor and shabby construction standards - for a total cost of $12 billion. That project, the Gotthard Base Tunnel, is just about the most complex 35 miles long stretch of railroad ever built, which at the center sits beneith 8000 ft of solid rock. I just can't see how the Gateway Project should cost nearly 10 times as much per mile...

Much of this can be laid at the feet of Robert Moses who concentrated his efforts on highway systems and keeping NYC segregated - the policies of the 40's and 50's laid the groundwork for urban flight and thus the decay of many parts of the city. The transport system has not been upgraded in almost 100 years. The Long Island Railroad only goes East/West and it takes hours to move north south between Brooklyn and Queens. It is mainly a question of neglect both in terms of not upgrading what was built but constantly adding to it over time. Show me an American city that has excellent public transport as well as good highways and roads and a A+ for city planning? Anyone?

This is what our tax money should be going towards not making the reps in Congress richer when they don’t realize this project even though it’s just a giant makeover is key to modernizing our train system and what is going to happen when the hyperloop comes into play I think it would be intresting to have a channel on YouTube that would give us video updates on the progress of these projects and maybe give us some history on these old tunnels and in the future these things should be left up to the people and not left to Congress just to be stepped over because they want a bigger paycheck.

You left out that fact the project was canceled not once but twice. Prior to it being down graded by the Donald Trump Administration it was canceled by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie because of its over priced cost. The Gateway Program previously know as the Gateway Project is solution to a different problem. It add no increase in capacity for Amtrak, it simple allows New Jersey Transit a separate path into New York Penn Station. A better solution should have been placing the two new tunnels, one up stream and the other down stream of the existing North River Tunnels. That configuration would have doubled the capacity for both Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. From what I understand the planning engineers did not want to devise a engineering solution to a problem that builders of the North River Tunnels discovered over a hundred years ago after those tunnels were built.

30 billion for this after years of debate, but they sent 40 billion to Ukraine with the snap of a finger... There are likely more places in need of construction in the U.S still.

This is a good summary, but it's a pretty irresponsible that you failed to mention Chris Christie's cancellation of this project in 2010, when it would have cost ~$8.7 billion at the time.

These numbers are small in 2022 dollars for an economy so massive as US. This project is needed and good but Japanese style fast trains are needed from Phillt to NYC to Boston with a Montreal branch with stops in Albany and an eventual Buffalo branch. A new Netro North would help lower NYC rents and spur upstate economic expansion

It's crazy how expensive even such a "modest" infrastructure renewl project gets.

We need more like this across the nation

The US is so dated

Ok.. anyone who thinks this will get done at under $30B has lost their minds. New York City voted in 2004 to add another subway line. They didn't start breaking ground on that until 2012 and didn't finish phase 1 until New Year's 2017. It went 3x over budget. Mind you they still have another 4 phases to complete.

They have a hard time securing $30 billion for critical national infrastructure, but we have billions to send to Ukraine in addition to a whole bunch of other countries who don't contribute anything to pool of tax dollars needed to keep this country running.

Why do I get the feeling that Trump cancelled federal support for this purely because such support was offered by Obama?

You said it, the NYC subway is a dump. People love to complain about our country's existence, but at least we have a gorgeous metro system

"All told, the Gateway Program will cost 29.5 billion dollars." I'm taking bets on when the projected cost tops $100 billion. Any takers?

I am a regular Washington-New Haven commuter. This is a very exiting development. When I ride Amtrak, I am always envious of the European countries where significant rail investments have been made and rail is even faster and more convenient. That said, I find Amtrak a much preferred option to driving or flying. And it will be even better with these investments.