Interesting transportation things

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Early Planning for New Hudson Rail Tunnel Is Underway, U.S. Transportation Secretary Says

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/ny...tary-says.html

The federal transportation secretary said on Thursday that officials were taking important initial steps to accelerate long-stalled plans to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

Speaking at a business breakfast in Manhattan, the secretary, Anthony Foxx, said that New Jersey Transit had agreed to lead the project’s environmental study and that Amtrak would oversee engineering work. Mr. Foxx said federal officials would shorten the timeline for approving permits and would discuss federal grants and other financing options with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that could be designated to oversee the project.

The steps, while modest, represent the most substantive movement on the project in years. They follow a political breakthrough last month when Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican, and Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, sent a letter to the White House saying their states would line up funding for half of the project’s cost, estimated to be as much as $20 billion.

In an interview on Thursday morning, Mr. Foxx said that he wanted to move as quickly as possible on preliminary work because of the deteriorating condition of the current tunnel, which is a century old. “I think it unleashes the Port Authority and New Jersey Transit and other stakeholders in the region to begin work with confidence that the governors are going to support it,” Mr. Foxx said of the governors’ letter.

On Thursday, New Jersey Transit confirmed that the agency was expected to lead the environmental study, but said the decision still required approval by the agency’s board of directors. Its role came as a result of a meeting between Mr. Christie and Mr. Foxx in August, said Nancy Snyder, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The environmental review could take two to three years, Ms. Snyder said, and include public hearings and the study of air quality and other environmental impacts. New Jersey’s transportation commissioner, Jamie Fox, said on Thursday that New Jersey Transit was “prepared to do its part and looks forward to working with Amtrak and the other agencies as the project advances.”

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