Construction on the massive $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project will resume next week after the Trump administration on Wednesday released $127 million in frozen funding, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.
New York and New Jersey sued after the U.S. Department of Transportation had withheld $205 million in funding for the project since October 1. The funding freeze triggered a halt to construction on February 6 that put 1,000 workers out of work.
The Hudson Tunnel Project aims to build a new commuter rail tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey and repair a century-old tunnel used by more than 200,000 travelers and 425 trains daily.
“A major win for workers and commuters,” Hochul said on social media. “We’ll keep fighting to ensure the federal government meets its commitments.”
The Department of Transportation did not immediately comment on Wednesday whether it plans to withhold future funds for the project.
The Trump administration asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the Washington region’s Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station to be named after President Donald Trump in exchange for releasing the funds, NBC News previously reported.
Schumer called the release of the funding "a huge win for New York, New Jersey, hundreds of thousands of commuters, thousands of union workers, and the economy of the entire region."
"We have secured all of December’s funding and even part of January’s ahead of schedule. Workers will be back on the job very soon andGatewayis back on track,” he said in a news release.
Reiterating his opposition to funding the tunnel project, Trump said on social media on Monday that the idea of renaming Penn Station after him was brought up by other politicians and union leaders, not him.
The existing Hudson Tunnel, heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, needs frequent emergency repairs that disrupt travel on the nation’s most heavily used passenger rail line.
Trump said in his Truth Social post on Monday that he was worried about billions of dollars in cost overruns.
“Gateway will likewise be financially catastrophic for the region, unless hard work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns,” Trump said.
Hochul said she called Trump on Monday after his post and told him the project was not facing cost issues.
U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas ordered the federal government to release funds for the project earlier this month.
The project was allocated about $15 billion in federal support under then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Nearly $2 billion has been spent so far.
