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President Donald Trump said on October 15 in Washington his administration was “over” funding for the New York City Gateway Program. On Manhattan’s West Side, however, site contractors haven’t missed a shift, they say.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration almost paused $18 billion in federal funding for both the Gateway and Second Avenue subway projects. The DOT said it launched an administrative review of how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Gateway Development Commission apply race- and sex-based hiring requirements under the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.
At the time, project leaders on the ground said work would be done continue in the short term.
That’s true despite Trump’s recent comments about ending the project, said Jorge Casado, Tutor Perini’s senior vice president of investor relations.
He said Tutor Perini, the Los Angeles-based general contractor building the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel project, is moving forward as previously planned.
“We are not aware of any change in focus,” Casado told Construction Dive. “We continue our work on the Manhattan Tunnel Project.”
The Gateway program, roughly $16 billion series of improvements between New York and New Jersey, consists of two new tunnels under the Hudson River and the rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The Manhattan Tunnel Project, one of its components, includes the construction of approximately 700 feet of twin tunnels and the protection of existing sewer and utility lines.
Although Tutor Perini continues its work, construction professionals previously told Construction Dive that a prolonged government shutdown, now in its third week, could disrupt it. long-term planning and innovations. The longer the shutdown, they said, the greater the risk to schedules and future phases of work.
“This is an industry that likes stability,” Carlo Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress, a construction industry advocacy group, told Construction Dive. “Right now, there’s really no effect, people are at work today. The real question is down the road.”
