Work on Gateway project will stop next week unless Trump restores funding
In December 2025, the Tonnelle Ave bridge structure was completed, opening the passage beneath the highway that will be used to bring the TBM components in for assembly. Credit: Gateway Development Commission
Construction of a crucial rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey will stop next week unless federal funding is restored. The Gateway Development Commission announced on Tuesday that funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project will run out on February 6. President Donald Trump’s administration initially paused funding until the project’s contracts were reviewed for compliance with new rules governing businesses owned by women and minorities—rules the GDC has pledged to follow—but funding has still not been restored, according to the New York Times.
GDC CEO Thomas Prendergast described the construction pause as a “last resort” and said the agency would keep working to secure additional funding.
“Since federal funding was paused in October, we have done everything in our power to keep construction moving forward as planned, but we cannot fund this work on credit indefinitely,” Prendergast said.
“Pausing construction is the absolute last resort, and we will continue working around the clock to secure funding so that the workers who are counting on this project to pay their bills can stay on the job and we can continue delivering the reliable, 21st-century infrastructure America needs.”
Gateway is one of the nation’s largest public infrastructure projects, with a key component being the Hudson River Tunnel Project, which began construction in November 2023. The initiative is creating a new, two-tube rail tunnel and rehabilitating the deteriorating century-old tunnels under the Hudson River.
Both tunnels play a critical role in the nation’s economy. If they were to shut down for just one day, it would cost the nation’s economy roughly $100 billion, as 6sqft previously reported.
Tunnel boring was slated to begin this summer. In August, the GDC announced that two massive tunnel-boring machines were set to arrive in early 2026 to start excavating the 2.4-mile connection to Penn Station. One has already arrived on site, according to the Times.
Despite a prior $12 billion federal commitment made under the Biden administration, funding stopped flowing in October during the government shutdown. The remaining $4 billion is financed through loans from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Build America Bureau, to be repaid by NY, NJ, and the Port Authority. Funding from these sources has been halted since October 1, 2025.
According to a press release, the GDC has signed and executed funding agreements with all of the project’s funders, including USDOT, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration.
The agency warned that pausing construction would result in the immediate loss of nearly 1,000 jobs, while a prolonged halt could jeopardize roughly 11,000 construction jobs on current projects, as well as the 95,000 jobs and $19.6 billion in economic impact that the tunnel construction is projected to generate overall.
Construction has continued thanks to a $500 million line of credit from Bank of America, provided to the GDC, according to Politico.
In October, President Donald Trump repeatedly taunted Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the project’s main supporters, claiming it was “terminated.” Trump had withheld funding for the project during his first term, but initially gave no indication that he planned to interfere with the tunnel project again, as 6sqft previously reported.
Earlier this month, Schumer met with Trump to request that Gateway funding be restored, but Trump refused, claiming on social media that Schumer was actually holding up the project: “Remember, everybody, it is Chuck Schumer, the under siege Senator from NY, who is holding up the Gateway Project!” Trump wrote, according to the Times.
In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul called the pause another example of Trump’s “vindictive quest” to hurt NY.
“Today’s announcement by the GDC is just the latest collateral damage of Donald Trump’s vindictive quest to hurt New Yorkers no matter the cost,” Hochul said.
“The stakes are enormous: hundreds of thousands of daily commuters, 10,000 union jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits all now imperiled by Donald Trump’s attempts to rip away infrastructure funding from NY.”
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called Trump’s refusal to fund the project “illegal” and “reckelss.”
“If the president does not restore funding to this project, which I helped secure while serving in Congress, he will single-handedly kill nearly 100,000 jobs and $20 billion in economic activity,” Sherrill said in a statement.
“New Jersey will fight tooth and nail for our hard-earned tax dollars and this essential project that will make commutes easier and improve quality of life for residents in the Garden State.”
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