Two critical New York City transport megaprojects – the $16bn Hudson Tunnels project and the $2bn 2nd Avenue Subway extension – ended the week in limbo after the Trump administration froze around $18bn in federal funding for them.
On Wednesday, the US Department of Transportation led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was reviewing whether long-established programs designed to include Black-, minority-, and women-owned businesses in federally-funded projects – referred to as the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, or DBE, program – were “discriminatory” and “unconstitutional”.
The statement cited an “interim final rule” issued only the day before that barred “race- and sex-based contracting requirements” from federal grants.
“Secretary Duffy’s position on the DBE program is clear – subsidising infrastructure contracts with taxpayer dollars based on discriminatory principles is unconstitutional, counter to civil rights laws, and a waste of taxpayer resources,” the statement said.
It added: “The Department is focusing on these projects because they are arguably the largest infrastructure initiatives in the Western Hemisphere, and the American people want to see them completed quickly and efficiently.”
In unusually partisan terms, the departmental statement goaded Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries – both born in Brooklyn – blaming them for this week’s government shutdown and saying it would slow down the review, which it said otherwise would have been “quick”.
Why this matters
The Hudson Tunnels project has been called the most urgent rail infrastructure project in the US because it will eliminate a serious chokepoint on the Northeast Corridor – the country’s busiest rail corridor running from Washington, DC in the south up to Boston in the north, taking in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York along the way. The region has been estimated to contribute 20% of the United States’ GDP.
Choking it is the 115-year-old North River twin rail tunnels under the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey, which are badly in need of repair. Trains passing through them are delayed nearly two out of every three days owing to maintenance needs, the public body in charge of the project says.
Scheduled for completion in 2038, the project will create four new rail tubes under the Hudson by rehabilitating the North River tunnels and building a separate, new twin-tube tunnel.
On the day Duffy’s department announced the freeze, a joint venture of Mace, Parsons, and Arcadis – the project’s delivery partner since last February – said it had won a $665m, 4.5-year contract extension to keep delivering it.
For its part, the $2bn 2nd Avenue Subway extension will restore a subway line with three stations to East Harlem by extending the Q Line 1.5 miles north from 96th Street to 125th Street.
Last week, Danish engineering consultant Cowi was appointed lead designer for the second phase of the project, which is being delivered by a joint venture of Halmar International and FCC Construction.
‘Every New Yorker should be outraged’
Responding to the freeze, on Wednesday New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said Donald Trump was “using his reckless government shutdown to hurt the American people”.
“In just 24 hours, his administration has defunded New York’s law enforcement and counterterrorism efforts and halted $18 billion in funding from critical infrastructure projects in New York City,” her statement said.
“This is political payback and an attack on New York and its residents, and it puts every family across our state in harm’s way.
“Every New Yorker should be outraged. From the construction worker who could lose their job, to the commuter stuck on a delayed train, to the families who rely on brave law enforcement officers to keep them safe.
“I will not sit idly by while Donald Trump defunds public safety and lets our infrastructure crumble. We will use every tool available to us to restore this funding and ensure that these critical infrastructure projects get built and keep every New Yorker safe.”
‘Fabricated culture war’
New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone said: “Halting the Hudson Tunnel Project over Trump’s fabricated culture war will sabotage thousands of NJ commuters.
“He has a history of obstruction against this project that’s the backbone of the entire Northeast Corridor and essential to the daily lives of hundreds of thousands New Jersey commuters and millions more across the region.
“Congressional Democrats fought for years to secure this federal funding because the existing tunnel is crumbling. This is about whether trains run safely and on time, whether workers get to their jobs, whether businesses can function, and whether the American economy keeps moving.
“Any partisan move to stop this project is an attack on New Jersey residents and the economic engine of our region. I, and others in the delegation, will fight this with everything we’ve got.”
The Gateway Development Commission, the public body developing the Hudson Tunnels project issued a statement Wednesday saying: “GDC complies with all federal laws and regulations, and will continue to do so throughout the project.”
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