Newark - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today cheered NJ Transit for issuing the first tunneling contract for work on the New Jersey side of the trans-Hudson mass transit tunnel project. The work from the $271 million contract is expected to create hundreds of jobs. About half the funding for the $8.7 billion project will come from the federal government - $3 billion from the Federal Transit Administration and $1.3 billion dollars from other federal sources. Menendez has helped secure hundreds of millions in federal funding for the tunnel project already.
"This is just the beginning of the good-paying New Jersey jobs for New Jersey workers that will be created and sustained by this tunnel," said Menendez. "This project is putting people to work immediately while laying the groundwork for thousands of permanent jobs, along with reduced transportation and energy costs. As this projects rolls along, the job creation momentum will only increase."
The $8.7 billion Mass Transit Tunnel project is expected to generate and sustain 6,000 jobs through the construction phase of two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, an expanded New York Penn Station and other key elements, reinvigorating the link between New Jersey and New York and benefiting the regional economy with improved mobility. It is expected to create 44,000 permanent jobs.
Once completed, the Mass Transit Tunnel will double service capacity to 48 trains per hour during peak periods from the current 23 trains. Twice as many passengers will be accommodated, from 46,000 each morning peak period now to 90,000 in the future. The project also will also create transfer-free, one-seat rides for travelers on 11 of NJ Transit's 12 rail lines.
In June, Menendez joined Governor Jon Corzine, FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff, Senator Frank Lautenberg and federal, state and local officials to break ground on the Mass Transit Tunnel project, the largest transit public works project in America.
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