Letter to the Hon. Peter DeFazio, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman - Representative Sherrill Leads Two Letters to Secretary Buttigieg, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman DeFazio Highlighting Importance of Gateway Tunnel Project

Letter

Dear Chairman DeFazio:

As the Biden administration and congressional leadership begin the process of drafting a proposal to rebuild our aging transportation infrastructure and energy grid, we write to urge you to support the inclusion of dedicated funding for the Gateway Project. We appreciate the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's work to support Gateway in the 116th Congress and were pleased that many of our priorities for the project were included in H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. We believe that a strong commitment to Gateway in the upcoming infrastructure package will significantly improve the efficiency and safety of the country's busiest rail corridor and will help to jumpstart our region's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Gateway Tunnel Project is the nation's most critical infrastructure project. A failure of the current Hudson River tunnels could send our nation's economy into an immediate recession and could cost American businesses and households an estimated $100 million a day. A partial closure of the existing Hudson River tunnels could reduce property values by $22 billion in New Jersey alone. Funding for the Gateway Project is critical to ensure the safe, efficient movement of people and goods through the Northeast Corridor. We were pleased that Transportation Secretary Buttigieg echoed our concerns during his Senate confirmation hearings.

We appreciate your leadership and commitment to Gateway as demonstrated in the Moving Forward Act, which contained several funding provisions that could be used to support the completion of Gateway. This includes $29 billion for Amtrak (with $13 billion going to the Northeast Corridor), $19 billion for the Passenger Rail Improvement, Modernization, and Expansion (PRIME) grant program, $9 billion for the Projects of National and Regional Significance grant program, and $7 billion for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program.

To allow for the rapid completion of the Gateway Project, we urge the inclusion of these important funding measures in the upcoming infrastructure package. This project will significantly improve travel along a rail corridor that was used by an estimated 750,000 people every day before the pandemic and will create thousands of jobs at a time when millions of people in our region are looking for work.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We look forward to continuing to work with you and the Committee to improve our nation's infrastructure.

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