Seeking to “ensure transparency and accountability” in the $8.7-billion effort to build a new commuter rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan, Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) has issued an executive order mandating more state oversight of spending and contracting.
As the country’s largest transit public-works project, the rail link includes construction of two commuter tracks and requires 8.78 miles of tunneling. The project officially broke ground in June and is to be completed in 2017. It will add capacity to an existing commuter rail tunnel, built in 1910 (see diagram, slide 3). The project is receiving about $130 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and is projected to provide 6,000 construction jobs a year.