New study highlights urgency for Gateway Project, says trans-Hudson ridership will increase by 46,000 over 2019 numbers
NEW YORK -- Despite the reluctance of the metropolitan area workforce to give up telecommuting, a new study finds the region is facing a new commuter surge that officials say can only be handled by building the proposed Gateway tunnels under the Hudson River.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported Wednesday, the Regional Plan Association predicts tens of thousands of new commuters as new jobs and the need to come into the city for not-work trips will pack an already overtaxed system.
It was just about a year ago that Sen. Chuck Schumer took Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on a tour of the dilapidated, storm-damaged tunnels under the Hudson to make the point that building new tunnels as part of the Gateway Project needed to be fast tracked.
"We also have corrosion because of the water and during the winter that water freezes over and makes icicles, which can short out," Amtrak President Stephen Gardner said on June 28, 2021.
That was at the height of the pandemic, when ridership was down and working remotely was the thing to do.
But a new report by the Regional Plan Association says that despite the popularity of telecommuting, commuter demand is expected to surge by as much as 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
"We have a window of opportunity, a once-in-generations opportunity. Really, what we have to understand -- and I'm not sure the public really gets it -- that this window will close," said the RPA's Tom Wright.
The study predicts that ridership will grow by 46,000 over the 400,000 riders making the trans-Hudson crossing in 2019, and that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be busiest days.
There will be people who commute for work.
"As the economy recovers, a large proportion of new jobs will still require commuting to work five days a week. There are medical professionals. There are restaurant workers," the RPA's Chris Jones said.
And those who make non-work trips.
"These are trips for schools, medical appointments, shopping, family visits, and entertainment," Jones said.
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The $12 billion tunnel project still needs financial commitments. New York and New Jersey have agreed to foot half the bill, but the feds need to kick in $6 billion.
And despite the dilapidated conditions of the existing 110-year-old current tunnels, officials are afraid that the so-called "window of opportunity" will close if Republicans prevail in the midterm elections.
"The days of getting this done yesterday are over. Today is a crisis. This is a moment and let's make it happen," said Carlo Scissura of the New York Building Congress.
Officials say their biggest worry is that if there is a change of congressional power in Washington, the money for Gateway will go to other states.
Advocates say building the Gateway Project is critical to the nation's economy. It is the cornerstone of the Northeast Corridor, which accounts for 20 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).