by: Adam Roberts
The New York region has countless overdue major infrastructure projects. While these projects were long considered necessary, a lack of political will failed to move them forward. Now, supportive elected officials at all levels of government are working together to push these projects ahead. Helping them along is the sudden influx of funding from the Federal Infrastructure Bill and congestion pricing.
Below are updates on some of the most critical infrastructure projects in the region:
- Gateway Program: The Gateway Program aims to rebuild rail infrastructure connecting New York and New Jersey, most notably by building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River. The tunnels portion of the program made major progress recently when the governors of both states agreed to split the project’s cost.
- Penn Station: Penn Station’s reconstruction has been ongoing for years, with the new Moynihan Train Hall opening in 2021. Now, the city and state have announced a deal that would expand track capacity, as well as build new residential and commercial space surrounding the station. The project has faced a great deal of criticism due to its proposed demolition of the entire surrounding neighborhood and its failure to connect Penn to Grand Central Terminal.
- 2nd Avenue Subway Phase II: Despite the opening of the Second Avenue Subway Phase I in 2017, progress has been slow for Phase II to bring the Q train to East Harlem. Over the last few months, a great deal of advances were made, with Hochul pledging to finish Phase II within a decade and move it into the engineering phase.
AIANY will continue advocating for the city, state, and federal governments to work together to move critical infrastructure projects along. Recently, Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg spoke to AIANY’s members about the Federal Infrastructure Bill. More programming on similar projects will be coming, so we hope you will join us!