$16 Billion Hudson River Tunnel Project Gets Final Green Light

The planners of the $16 billion rail tunnel project known as Gateway said they passed the “point of no return” on Tuesday when the federal government told Congress that it would provide an additional $6.88 billion to the project.

The federal grant — the most ever provided to a mass-transit infrastructure project in the country — was the final piece of the funding puzzle for the long-delayed tunnel between New Jersey and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan.

It gives planners of the sprawling project the green light to hire engineering and construction companies to start boring through a cliff in North Bergen, N.J., and under the Hudson River.

That work could begin as soon as this year and is scheduled to be completed in 2035, said Kris Kolluri, the chief executive of the Gateway Development Commission.

“This is the moment that has eluded this region for literally almost 30 years,” Mr. Kolluri said. “We are essentially at the point of no return.”

The Gateway project is the second attempt at building an additional rail tunnel to increase capacity and improve the reliability of train service between New York and points west and south. The existing pair of single-track tunnels is more than 110 years old and suffering from damage sustained by flooding during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.