Highly Anticipated Gateway Tunnel Project Delayed by Blizzard

Despite the long-awaited release of federal funds, a major winter blizzard has forced a temporary freeze on the Gateway Tunnel development. 

The Gateway Development Commission announced that work on the Hudson Tunnel Project—the most anticipated infrastructure venture in the region—is expected to resume at some point the week of Feb. 23, following weather-related delays that stalled its official restart.

This brief weather delay marks the final hurdle in a chaotic month for the project. The path to resumption was cleared only after the Trump Administration finally released the remaining $205 million in frozen funds contractually owed to the Gateway Project.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed on Feb. 18 that the Trump Administration released $98 million in overdue funding for Gateway and an additional $30 in reimbursements for work finished in January, said Hochul.

The Hudson Tunnel Project is the cornerstone of the Gateway Program, a collaboration between New Jersey and New York that aims to modernize rail travel between the two states.

The Gateway Project is particularly focused on improving the ten-mile stretch of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) between Newark and New York Penn Station. According to the Gateway Development Commission, this is the busiest, most congested part of the NEC, with 450 trains carrying 200,000 passengers daily.

Nine miles of new rail track will be built for the Hudson Tunnel Project, including a new, two-tube tunnel under the Hudson River. The project will also see the rehabilitation of the hundred-year-old North River Tunnel, which has frequently created delays for travelers.

Though the Gateway Project’s estimated cost is $16 billion, the construction is reportedly generating nearly $20 billion in economic activity and nearly 100,000 jobs. With two rail tunnels, Amtrak and NJ Transit will be able to run more trains at a time, reducing congestion and travel delays.

Construction of the new Hudson tunnel is expected to finish in 2035, while work on the North River Tunnel is scheduled for 2038.

Trump has clashed with the Gateway Program since his first administration, and has repeatedly tried to stall development. Though construction on the Hudson Tunnel had already begun, the U.S. Department of Transportation halted the release of contractually obligated funds on Oct. 1, 2025.

White House budget director Russell Vought said that funding was withheld due to “unconstitutional DEI practices” on the project. According to NBC News, Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) that he would release the funds only if he supported renaming Dulles International Airport and New York Penn Station after him.

However, on Feb. 4, both New Jersey and New York sued the Trump Administration for withholding funding for the Gateway Program. Gov. Sherrill called Trump’s decision to halt Gateway’s funding “bewildering and illegal,” stating that it cost millions of dollars to suspend construction when it was on time and on budget.

Likewise, Renae Reynolds, executive director of the nonprofit Tri-State Transportation Campaign, described the Trump Administration’s act as an “overreach” and an “exercise in attempting to use power where completely unnecessary, unreasonable, and irrational when it comes to what the potential economic benefits are from a massive infrastructure project.”
Tensions over funding cuts reached their apex when construction of the Gateway Tunnel was suspended on Feb. 6, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs. Any extended pause would have jeopardized 11,000 planned construction jobs for the project. 
“He’s put a lot of workers at risk, who had to go home and tell their family they think they’re out of a job, who worried about their healthcare,” said Sherrill in a statement. “Every single time Trump gets involved, the only person who seems to be making any money is him, at the expense of workers across the country.”

Though funding and construction will proceed, New Jersey’s court battles over the project will continue as well. The state’s lawsuit against the Trump administration is still ongoing, along with the Gateway Development Commission’s lawsuit against the federal government for breach of contract.

Given the massive scale and impact of the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project, local advocates have stated that New Jersey’s fight to uphold it is a national concern.

“I think when it comes to infrastructure projects, and whether or not the federal government is going to decide arbitrarily to put their thumbs on the scale and decide which projects get developed, which projects get frozen midway, it’s a big problem that we all should be paying attention to,” said Reynolds.