Sometimes boring is pretty exciting.
On Monday, officials announced that digging is about to begin on a long-awaited train passageway between New Jersey and New York: the Gateway Tunnel.
The two tunnel boring machines launching this autumn will dig nearly one mile through the hard rock under the Palisades Cliffs in New Jersey to the Hudson County access shaft on the border of Weehawken and Hoboken. These two machines will be removed via the access shaft and replaced with a second pair of machines that will build the section of the tunnel under the Hudson River.
The humongous machines are expected to carve about 30 feet of tunnel per day, including scheduled pauses for maintenance. They will reach the access shaft about one year after launching.
The new tunnel is especially crucial to the region, as the existing North River Tunnel serving Penn Station is more than 110-years-old and was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. While the tunnel has been repaired frequently, its age and damaged condition have caused constant headaches for more than 200,000 people who travel through it on more than 400 trains every weekday.
Construction on the new tunnel started on both sides of the Hudson River in November 2023. It will serve NJ Transit and Amtrak trains.
The Gateway Tunnel is the centerpiece of a larger construction effort dubbed the Gateway Program, which aims to take some pressure off one of the most notorious railway chokeholds in the nation: the Northeast Corridor. Learn more about the project here.
The $16 billion cost is being split between the federal government and the project's three local partners: New York, New Jersey, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
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The governors of both states gave a big thumbs-up to this week's announcement from the Gateway Development Commission.
"Launching the first tunnel boring machine marks a major step forward for the Gateway Program and for the nearly 200,000 passengers who depend on the current century-old tunnel every day," Gov. Mikie Sherrill said.
"I was proud to be known as the 'tunnel-obsessed congresswoman,' and I am just as proud to be the 'tunnel-obsessed governor,'" said Sherrill, who previously served in New Jersey's 11th congressional district.
Sherrill's counterpart across the Hudson River concurred.
"This is a historic day for New York and a clear demonstration of our ambitions to once again dream and build big," Gov. Kathy Hochul enthused.
A diverse collection of lawmakers - including Democrats and Republicans - said the new tunnel will be a big win for residents of New Jersey and New York.
"Millions of people depend on the Northeast Corridor every day to get to work, to school, and back home to their families," said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.
"This milestone is a major step toward fulfilling the Hudson Tunnel Project's two-track tunnel and giving New Jerseyans the dependable rail infrastructure they've waited decades for," Booker said.
Fellow Democrat U.S. Sen. Andy Kim also gave the news a thumbs-up.
"Modernizing New Jersey's transit infrastructure cannot happen without new tracks and tunnels for North Jersey commuters," Kim said.
This week's milestone also saw praise from two Republican congress members: U.S. Reps. Chris Smith and Tom Kean Jr.
"The launch of the Hudson Tunnel Project's first boring machine is a significant accomplishment and the start of a much-needed investment in both local labor and local transportation infrastructure," Smith said.
"Reliable rail infrastructure is essential to New Jersey commuters and to the regional economy," Kean agreed.
The below video illustrates how the tunnel boring machinery that will dig the Gateway Tunnel between New Jersey and New York operates:
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