As work progresses on existing contracts for the $16.1 billion Hudson Tunnel project between New York City and northern New Jersey, Gateway Development Commission (GDC) CEO Kris Kolluri say during the October 11 commission meeting that seven of the nine contract packages will do so. be under construction or contracting at the end of the year.
“A significant amount of work is being done on site and in our finance department,” Kolluri said.
The tunnel is planned to serve Amtrak and NJ Transit trains on the Northeast Corridor beginning in 2035, at which time the existing North River Tunnel would undergo rehabilitation work.
According to Hamed Nejad, GDC’s acting technical director, work on the Tonnelle Avenue bridge, which will carry road traffic over the New Jersey side approach to the rail tunnel, is about 48 percent complete. He also told commissioners that 65 percent of the desiccant piles for the concrete shell of Hudson Yards on the New York side are complete, crews have begun underpinning the High Line and 17,000 tons of soil have been excavated so far .
On the river, Nejad said crews have been working on a test section of the river bed for stabilization and are preparing to begin deep soil mixing.
On the procurement side, GDC issued a request for qualification for the construction of the central part of the two-tube tunnel. The scope of this contract is planned to include boring two 7,250-foot-long tunnels under the Hudson River with a pair of pressure-faced TBMs, lining the tunnels with precast concrete segmented tunnel lining with an inner lining of 25 feet 2 inches. in diameter, placing precast inverts in the tunnel under the river and on the New Jersey side of the 5,100-foot length of the tunnel, constructing nine crossings and other work. Responses are due by Dec. 6, and Gateway leaders say they aim to select a contractor in 2026 to complete the work in the spring of 2029.
GDC has planned to build the tunnel in three segments, along with other separate works in additional contract packages. In August, the commission chose Schiavone Dragados Lane JV for a $465.6 million contract to build the New Jersey side of the tunnel. And earlier this year, he selected three teams for the New York set. Responses from shortlisted companies should be received next month.
The commission also plans to issue an RFQ for surface alignment work on the New Jersey side in November and solicit TBMs in December, Kolluri said.
The meeting was Kolluri’s last as chief executive of the commission after he tendered his resignation over the summer after securing final funding for the project. Kolluri stayed on until this month at the request of the commissioners, who have launched a search committee to find his replacement. The curators did not provide an update on the research at the meeting, but thanked Kolluri for his work leading the project.
