President Biden will go to New York City on Tuesday to announce a $292 million “Mega grant” for the Hudson Tunnel Project, made possible by the large infrastructure package signed into law in November 2021.
Biden’s trip to New York City follows his stop in Baltimore, Maryland, on Monday, where he celebrated the planned replacement of a 150-year-old tunnel, and his previous trips this month to Kentucky and the southern border, giving the strong impression that the 80-year-old commander-in-chief is planning a 2024 re-election bid.
“The Hudson Tunnel Project will create 72,000 well-paying jobs, rehabilitate the 1910-built North River Tunnel, build a new tunnel beneath the Palisades, Hudson River, and the Manhattan waterfront, and improve reliability for 200,000 weekday New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) and Amtrak passengers,” according to a White House statement.
According to the White House, the approximately $300 million in federal funds for the long-delayed Hudson River Tunnel will assist complete a crucial early phase of the project.
According to a White House information sheet, the money will go to Amtrak and partially cover the final portion of concrete casing intended to maintain future right-of-way for the new passenger rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River.
This phase of the project will cost a total of $649 million, while the full Hudson Tunnel Project is anticipated to exceed $16 billion.
“The project will shorten commute times for NJ Transit customers, improve Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) reliability, and bolster the northeast regional economy. The White House reports that Amtrak expects the Hudson Tunnel Project to generate 72,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction, as well as union collaborations for job training.
According to the White House, aging tunnel infrastructure caused 12,653 minutes of passenger delays in 2020, and remnants of seawater that entered the tunnel in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy continue to damage the concrete, steel, tracks and third rail, signaling and electrical components within the tunnel, necessitating regular and emergency maintenance.
The Hudson Tunnel Project is part of the ambitious Gateway Program, which aims to expand and repair the rail route between Newark and New York City through multiple projects, including the new Portal North Bridge, which broke ground last year and is supported by $900 million in federal subsidies.
New York, New Jersey, and the entire northeast rely heavily on the new Gateway rail tunnel. It has been a decade-long interest of mine,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told The Washington Post earlier this month.
“Now that the administration is totally on board with Gateway, everything is a go. I’ve invited the President to New York on Tuesday to discuss the tremendous progress we’re making on the Gateway project, and I look forward to joining him there,” he added.
Biden will also announce that his administration has awarded nearly $1.2 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law’s National Infrastructure Project Assistance discretionary grant program, also known as Mega, to major projects across the nation, such as the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Kentucky and Ohio and the Calcasieu River Bridge Replacement in Louisiana.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Gov. Phil Murphy are slated to join the president in New York (D-NJ).
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was supported by a few Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Rob Portman, but it was opposed by progressive Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who claimed that Vice President Joe Biden was exaggerating the bill’s
On these January excursions, while an announcement regarding his 2024 plans does not appear forthcoming, Biden appears to be refining his arguments for why he should remain in the White House for a second term.
On January 4, 2023, in Covington, Kentucky, United States, Biden meets with Mitch McConnell to discuss his economic strategy for rebuilding infrastructure, creating well-paying employment, and rejuvenating neglected neighborhoods.
Biden held an appearance at the Brent Spence Bridge in Kentucky with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and other Republicans, highlighting the potential outcomes of his infrastructure package and highlighting the accomplishments his administration can make with bipartisan support.
“We can accomplish our goals. “We can move the country forward if we just drop a little bit of our egos and focus on what the country needs,” Biden said as Republican members in Washington tried to pick a House speaker.
This month also marked Biden’s first visit to the southern border as president, after two years of Republican demands that he observe the migrant problem in person.
According to the White House, the president and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Philadelphia on Friday to explain how the infrastructure bill is paying the removal of lead pipes around Philadelphia.