Officials warn that Gateway Tunnel work will stop next week unless Trump reverses decision to end funding

WASHINGTON — Work on the Gateway Tunnel Project is expected to stop next week if the Trump Administration does not release $16 billion in previously approved federal funding for the massive rail project, the regional commission overseeing the project warned on Tuesday.

The potential halt to construction on a tunnel years in the making, and that employs nearly 1,000 workers, sparked calls from top lawmakers and rank-and-file union workers for President Donald Trump to reverse course on his decision in October to terminate funding for the project.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaking at Tuesday’s Gateway Development Commission hearing in lower Manhattan, urged Trump to consider the economic consequences of stopping funding for the new Hudson River tunnel, as the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel continues to fall into disrepair.

"We have full partnership from New York and New Jersey," Schumer said. "Plans done, permits secured, work underway and building trades workers on the job. Tunnel-boring machines are being delivered soon to start their essential work, and yet we stand here today facing the absurd reality that this vital and fully funded project — that is otherwise moving full steam ahead — is on the precipice of being derailed, and maybe even killed. It makes absolutely no sense."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump in October announced he was "terminating" funding for the project, telling reporters that "we’re getting rid of programs that we didn’t like." Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought in an Oct. 1 social media post said funding for Gateway and the Second Avenue Subway extension were being paused by the Department of Transportation to ensure the projects did not promote "DEI principles," referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Thomas Prendergast, chief executive officer of the Gateway Development Commission, testified at the meeting Tuesday that work has continued on the project since October via a line of credit, but he noted that the commission has repeatedly notified federal officials that doing so was a short-term solution.

"We have now drawn down nearly all of the available sources and credit and can no longer continue funding construction without access to the original project’s funds," he said. "For that reason we have notified our contracts that we will have to stop on Feb. 6, if additional funding does not become available ... contractors will spend the next two weeks winding down work at the active construction sites in New York, New Jersey and in the Hudson River."

Prendergast warned that an extended work stoppage would derail the project’s "carefully coordinated" budget and schedule, leading to potential cost increases and the loss of skilled workers. If the project were to be killed outright, he said 96,000 jobs required to complete the entire decade-long project would be lost.

"Stopping construction won’t just hurt New York and New Jersey. The core reason why the Hudson Tunnel project is the most urgent passenger rail project in the country hasn’t changed — the rail link at the heart of the Northeast Corridor is old, outdated and falling apart," he said, referring to the impact of the aging North-River Tunnel on the overall 457-mile line connecting major Northeast cities from Washington to Boston.

Asked about the future of the Gateway project, the Department of Transportation in an email statement referred Newsday to the White House. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

Lawmakers and tunnel workers alike at the meeting made direct appeals to Trump to reverse his decision, invoking his years spent as a Queens-born real estate developer.

"This is not you, Mr. Trump," union worker Ronald Siros said during the meeting’s public comment section. "This is not what you’re about. I remain optimistic you will change your mind and your attitude on this."

Gateway Development Commissioner Alicia Glen told the meeting: "Let's be honest, let's be clear, there is really only an audience of one — one person who needs to hear our collective voices, and we all know who that is. So we are telling you that, on behalf of hundreds of workers, thousands of riders and millions of Americans who are counting on you, Donald Trump must restore the funding to this project."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), in a written statement provided to the commission, said "New Yorkers will not tolerate the Trump administration playing political games with our workers or our economy."

Gov. Kathy Hochul, in a statement said news of the potential work stoppage "is just the latest collateral damage of Donald Trump's vindictive quest to hurt New Yorkers no matter the cost."

Hochul added: "Make no mistake, the Gateway Tunnel is vital to the economy of this state and the entire region, and I will fight like hell to ensure it gets built."

Schumer, in a brief phone interview with Newsday after the meeting, said he would continue pressing the White House and said some of the president’s Republican supporters in the business community have also been "putting pressure on him."

"There's only one person, just one, who terminated Gateway," Schumer said of Trump. "There's only one person who could get it back."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.