BUILD GATEWAY NOW COALITION CALLS ON NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATIONS TO VOTE NO ON BUDGET BILL UNLESS IT INCLUDES GATEWAY

Civic, Business and Real Estate Groups Call on Their Federal Representatives to Fund Nation’s Top Infrastructure Priority

NEW YORK, NY – Today the Build Gateway Now Coalition delivered a message to the congressional delegations from New Jersey and New York -- the Gateway project must be funded in this federal spending bill. The stated deadline for Congress to finalize the details of the bill is this week.

The Governors of New York and New Jersey along with the Port Authority have already put up local funds, including $300 million for Portal Bridge, and are committed to continuing to meet the local match required for future portions of the project.

The text of the letter is attached.

Gateway will modernize the failing 108-year old tunnel that runs under the Hudson River -- and are the single biggest point of failure of the entire Northeast Corridor. The tunnel flooded during Superstorm Sandy and have less than 15 years of useful life before needing a complete rebuild. Over two-hundred thousand passengers pass through them each day. The loss of just one tunnel would seriously harm the New York/New Jersey metropolitan region’s economy, which represents 20% of U.S. GDP.

Building Gateway will not only prevent disaster, it will help grow the regional economy. The project will double the capacity of the Northeast Corridor train line between Newark and New York City -- an investment that will improve rail and freight mobility from Washington, D.C. to Boston and beyond.

For more information visit: http://buildgateway.org/

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