Pete Buttigieg to visit Hudson River tunnel as Schumer pushes for Gateway project [View all]
Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for transportation secretary, has agreed to tour the crumbling Hudson River rail tunnels, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday as he renewed his push for a stalled project to build a new connection.
“I explained to him that this has been a top priority for New York for more than a decade and that our future depends on it,” said Schumer, the Senate minority leader. “He was very receptive, and I was very optimistic.”
The comments came after he held a Wednesday video conference with Buttigieg, the ex-small-city mayor and unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate whom Biden has tapped to lead the Department of Transportation. Buttigieg needs Senate confirmation to take the job.
Schumer is a big backer of the estimated $11.3 billion Gateway project, which would include a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey. He, Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy say it’s needed to replace the existing rail connection, which is more than a century old, though critics argue it’s an unnecessary boondoggle and the old tunnels can be fixed.
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