Good morning, Commissioners,

For decades, Regional Plan Association has advocated for modernizing the Northeast Corridor and building the trans-Hudson rail capacity that our region depends on. Today’s award of the contract for the New Jersey Surface Alignment Project marks another major step toward finally delivering that vision.

GDC has been on a roll. At this Board Meeting and the one before it, the Gateway Development Commission has advanced critical construction packages that are turning years of planning into visible progress. With today’s award, seven of the Hudson Tunnel Project’s ten construction packages will be underway or complete.

The Hudson Tunnel Project is essential to building a more reliable, resilient, and higher-capacity transportation system. It will improve service for hundreds of thousands of daily riders, strengthen economic competitiveness across the Northeast, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by supporting a modern rail network that moves more people efficiently and sustainably.

This investment is also delivering substantial economic benefits right now. The project is already supporting thousands of good-paying jobs, with many more to come as additional construction packages move forward. Those benefits extend far beyond New York and New Jersey, supporting workers, manufacturers, suppliers, and small businesses across the country.

We cannot afford to lose momentum. The Hudson Tunnel Project represents years of planning, bipartisan cooperation, and billions of dollars already committed by federal, state, and local partners. Continued federal funding is essential to protect that investment, maintain construction schedules, and avoid costly delays that would increase risks to our regional and national economies.

As the Hudson Tunnel Project continues to move forward, we also want to make sure that we are maximizing the full capacity benefit that it can offer to our transit network. Federal, state and local policymakers should come together to develop a plan for Penn Station that will take advantage of this new capacity and deliver the full 48 trains per hour between New York and New Jersey that the Gateway Program makes possible.

RPA commends GDC for continuing to move this transformative project forward. We urge policymakers at every level of government to sustain their commitment to completing the Hudson Tunnel Project and securing the future of the Northeast Corridor for generations to come.

Thank you