Design and Construction Report staff writer
Tunnel boring has begun on the Hudson Tunnel Project, a major rail infrastructure project that will build a new connection between New Jersey and New York Penn Station.
The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) marked the start of boring with the launch of the first of two tunnel boring machines that will excavate through hard rock beneath the Palisades in New Jersey. A second machine is expected to launch soon.The machines will bore about one mile to the Hudson County Access Shaft in Weehawken, N.J., where they will be removed and replaced with a second pair of machines to excavate the section beneath the Hudson River.
Hard-rock machines are expected to advance about 30 feet per day, including scheduled maintenance stops, and reach the access shaft about a year after launch.
Work is being carried out by Schiavone Dragados Lane JV under the Palisades Tunnel construction contract. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is overseeing delivery of the contract in partnership with GDC.
The start of boring follows nearly three years of construction and more than a decade of planning. The project will deliver the first new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River in more than 100 years.
The Hudson Tunnel Project is part of the broader Gateway rail program, which aims to improve capacity and reliability on the heavily used rail corridor between New Jersey and New York.
