US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
WASHINGTON—New Jersey Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez have called on US Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to explain why, despite personally viewing the crumbling condition of the Hudson River tunnels and the poor state of the rail crossings between New York and New Jersey first-hand, the USDOT continues to drag its feet on the critical transportation project.
Despite repeated formal and informal invitations to visit the current tunnels and the Portal Bridge in New Jersey in order to learn more about the Gateway Program, a series of infrastructure improvements to the Northeast Corridor, Senators Booker and Menendez charged on Wednesday that the Transportation Secretary took a personal tour of the project site in April 2018, without members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation.
Specifically, Senators Booker and Menendez asked Chao to explain why the Environmental Impact Statement for the Hudson River tunnel project has not been approved by DOT as yet, even though a draft EIS prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration and New Jersey Transit was published in June 2017. The lawmakers also asked Chao why the project received a medium-low rating from the DOT earlier this year and why the Portal North Bridge project had also continued to languish without DOT's approval.
"We are writing to request information regarding steps the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has taken to advance the Gateway Project after you personally toured the 100+ year old crumbling infrastructure in 2018," the lawmakers wrote. "We would have welcomed the opportunity to join you on the tour to discuss how we could partner to advance the Gateway Project, but please know the invitations we have previously extended still stand."
They added, "While viewing the state of the existing tunnels is a compelling enough sight, we believe you and your team would also benefit from meeting with our constituents, who are impacted each week by countless delays, in order to better understand the urgency of moving the project forward. Each day the project is delayed, costs rise, and the economic cost of inaction grows."
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John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
