NEWARK, NJ – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee which oversees America's rail infrastructure, today praised the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Commissioners authorization of more than $300 million toward a new Portal North Bridge. This commitment covers a significant portion of the local share of costs associated with replacing the Portal Bridge, a critical rail infrastructure component for trains into and out of New York City and a major component of the Gateway Program.
“Portal Bridge is not only a significant bottleneck for the entire Northeast Corridor, but also a source of endless frustration for scores of commuters across the region,” said Sen. Booker. “On the heels of last week’s announcement from the federal partners, today’s financial commitment represents another significant step forward for the entire Gateway Program and will help provide much-needed relief to New Jersey commuters who depend on reliable, safe rail transit. Gateway remains a top priority of mine, and I look forward to continue working with our state and federal partners in moving this project full steam ahead.”
As part of his commitment to moving this critical project forward, last week Sen. Booker joined U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, U.S. Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Charles E. Schumer (D- NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), along with Amtrak Board Chairman Anthony R. Coscia in announcing the achievement of a series of milestones and accomplishments in Gateway, including the eligibility for Federal grants and financing for Portal North Bridge and the Hudson Tunnel Project, critical components of the Gateway Program.
Sen. Booker joined Sens. Menendez and Schumer (D-NY) in December to announce provisions benefiting the Gateway Program that were included in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the first Federal law in over ten years to provide long-term funding certainty for surface transportation. Sen. Booker fought to have several key provisions incorporated into the FAST Act to help provide reliable funding sources for the Gateway Program. These include measures enabling Amtrak for the first time to reinvest revenue from the Northeast Corridor back into the Northeast Corridor and allowing more flexibility in financing for vital infrastructure projects like Gateway by permitting repayment of federal Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans 35 years from project completion.
In August 2015 Sen. Booker convened a meeting in his office with Senator Menendez, Governor Christie and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Foxx to discuss governance and funding for the Gateway Program. Coming out of that meeting, in November Sen. Booker joined Governors Christie and Cuomo and Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand in announcing they reached an agreement on funding commitments and a governance structure that will allow Gateway Tunnel Project to move forward.
In March, Sens. Booker and Schumer led a letter to Federal appropriators calling for robust funding for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor for Fiscal Year 2017, including funding for grant programs authorized in the FAST Act to help address the state of good repair backlog along with safety improvements.