The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) has awarded a major construction contract for the Hudson Tunnel Project, covering the section that will run beneath the Hudson River.
The contract, known as Package 1C: The Hudson River Tunnel Section, has been awarded to the Traylor/Walsh/Skanska joint venture. The work includes boring new tunnel tubes under the river, as well as installing the internal lining and floor. Construction is expected to begin in the coming months.
Package 1C: Hudson River Tunnel Section Contract
© Traylor/Walsh/Skanska Joint Venture
The Hudson Tunnel Project forms part of the wider Gateway Program, a long-term initiative aimed at expanding rail capacity and improving reliability along the Northeast Corridor. The route is one of the busiest passenger rail lines in the United States, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers each day.
With this award, six of the ten construction packages linked to the wider project are now either underway or completed. Earlier packages, including the Palisades Tunnel and Manhattan Tunnel sections, are already in progress. The latest development means that contracts covering the main tunnelling and structural components of the scheme have now largely been let.
Gateway Development Commission CEO Tom Prendergast said:
Awarding the contract for Package 1C: The Hudson River Tunnel Section marks another major step toward delivering the reliable, modern passenger rail system that the hundreds of thousands of riders who travel into and out of New York City every day need.
Traylor/Walsh/Skanska JV brings the expertise, resources, and experience needed to deliver this complex project. We look forward to working together to deliver this important piece of the most urgent passenger rail project in the country.
Package 1C covers the longest continuous section of tunnelling within the project. It involves constructing two parallel tunnel tubes, each measuring around 7,250 feet, between an access shaft in Weehawken, New Jersey, and another on Manhattan’s west side.
The tunnels will be excavated using two tunnel boring machines designed to operate through mixed ground conditions, including rock, soft soil and previously stabilised sections beneath the riverbed.
Additional work within this package includes building nine cross passages between the tunnels, stabilising ground beneath part of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, and installing structural supports near the Willow Avenue Bridge.
The contract, valued at approximately 1.29 billion USD, was awarded following a competitive procurement process involving multiple public agencies, including GDC, New York State, NJ TRANSIT, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Amtrak.