Leaders of regional rail transportation megaprojects—Jim Short, Amtrak acting senior vice president of capital delivery (center) and Jim Starace, program delivery chief for the $16-billion Gateway tunnel project (right}—cited key progress in executing construction in a conference Q&A with ENR Editor in Chief Scott Blair.    
Photo by Borna Nemati, Viral Pallet LLC

The $16-billion Gateway program to replace and upgrade 117-year-old Northeast Corridor rail tunnels under the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York City is progressing. The first new tunnel will enter service in 2035, with both new tunnels and upgrades to the existing twin tunnels completed by 2038, said Jim Starace, chief of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission. He said five of the fully funded tunnel project's 10 construction packages are active and awarded. Tunnel boring is on track to start in 2026 from the Tonnelle Ave. tunnel in New Jersey. “There's a lot of economic activity that will come out of the Hudson tunnel project, and it is our goal is to share that with small businesses," said Starace. "We have a goal of DBE participation and we take that seriously.”

Innovative technology will be key to keep infrastructure resilient and secure. “We're also looking to AI to enhance this whole asset performance,” said Short. “We're in the early days of that, but the progress that we're making in asset management to improve resilience has been phenomenal.”

Also embarking on the next phase of a multiyear expansion and upgrade of aging assets is Newark Liberty International Airport, under its EWR Vision strategic plan that sets the course for its continued redevelopment to 2065, said Ralph D’Apuzzo, senior program director of the airport's redevelopment for the Port Authority of NY and NJ.

The continuing effort to modernize the 1970s-era airport follows the 2023 debut of its much-lauded $2.7-billion Terminal A replacement project, one of the largest design-builds in New Jersey, which provided over 1 million sq ft and "set a benchmark on how we approach development projects, redefining world-class design, sustainability and inclusivity," he said.

The plan to replace Terminal B, which opened in 1973 and has reached the end of its useful life, was unveiled last year. No cost has been disclosed for the project that now now is in a $55-million planning phase. By 2030, the airport will have a rebuilt $3.5-billion air train system that will include: three new stations, an elevated guideway and a refreshed train fleet to replace the existing one in operation since 1999, said D'Apuzzo. It will provide service to Terminal A, the future Terminal B and other proposed airport layout changes. “But getting to this stage involved instituting a multi-contract procurement strategy that really was innovated out of lessons learned from industry,” he said, noting the change stemmed from costly bids received under the original single design-build-operate-maintain package strategy.

 By taking lessons learned from the multibillion-dollar Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 and applying some value engineering, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already identified $1.3 billion in savings for Phase 2 of the project, Saqib Rizwan, its senior vice president and project CEO, told attendees. He addressed concerns over the costs of subway construction, saying that the best way to look at it is not the cost per mile, but per rider. Phase 2 is expected to serve an average of 110,000 daily riders, on top of 200,000 riders using Phase 1 each day. Phase 2 is set to have a lower cost-per-rider than other recent U.S. underground rail lines, or than international projects such as the London Crossrail, Rizwan said.

 The building team anticipates saving $500 million alone by using a tunnel segment constructed in the 1970s for a since abandoned project. It will become the 106th Street station, although never intended as such, due to its “remarkably good condition,” he said. . The contract package for the station is in procurement, and MTA received submissions from four qualified bidders. The agency will issue an RFP to them this month.

Powering Up to Meet New Demand

 Even with 94 years of experience in building statewide power infrastructure from canals to hydroelectric facilities to solar generation, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) now faces a challenge in building next-gen nuclear power plants—a new mission added to its plate in recent months by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).

 New York expects to boost its energy supply by up to 90% to support state growth and new needs, Patricia Lombardi, the agency’s senior vice president for project delivery, told attendees. “We're anticipating an added 12,000 MW of load … looking to interconnect onto our transmission system," she said. "With renewables, [data center] hyperscalers and nuclear projects ahead, that will only increase. NYPA is really investing in our existing assets and new assets.”

 Hochul directed NYPA to develop and construct an advanced nuclear power project of at least 1 GW in upstate New York to support a reliable and affordable electric grid, “either alone or partnering with the private sector,” Lombardi said. “We're in the very early stages” of filling key leadership roles to determine facility location, technology and partner, she added. Lombardi said NYPA has hired a nuclear sector consultant but did not share detail on the person or firm selected.

 "We remain invested in our commitments in other renewable technologies, but we really need an all of the above approach, and nuclear does provide firm base load power that some other technologies do not offer,” Lombardi noted. She predicted the authority would issue "early next year" requests to seek design and construction, as well as financial, partners. "We'll continue to publicize more information once we have a better handle on the timeline, risks and permitting," she said.

 “NYPA is going to ... really find a way to make New York the best example of how to do nuclear because I'm imagining this is probably not [going to be] the last nuclear plant to be built," said Lombardi. "We're trying to really be smart and sharp about the way we're doing it.”

 The agency also aims to boost its utility-scale renewable energy and battery storage capacity by 7 GW, as outlined its current draft strategic plan, “to drive New York further forward" to meet a clean energy goal of 70% renewable power delivery by 2030, Lombardi said. Some state offcials, however, have expressed skepticism that the goal is achievable by that date.

 Also on its plate are major projects to boost aging generation facilities and add new transmission capacity. "Smart Path Connect, which was jointly developed and now in execution with our partner, National Grid, is a billion-dollar-plus project that will bring an additional 1,000 MW of transfer capability," she said, adding that its three new substations "will all have digital technology, really a deviation from our conventional substation architecture."

 The authority also has projects ahead to boost decarbonization projects in state agency buildings and to upgrade infrastructure that supports the state's 524-mile canal system that includes 57 locks and 17 lift bridges. “Over the next four years, the authority estimates a capital portfolio of over $4 billion," said Lombardi.

Demanding Water Work

 The New York City Dept. of Environmental Protection is halfway through a 20-year process to build a new estimated $2 billion water tunnel that will run two miles between the Kensico Reservoir and Eastview, N.Y. to the Catskill-Delaware Ultraviolet Light Disinfection Facility. Construction of the coming Kensico-Eastview Connection tunnel will move forward in five separate contracts, evenly split between above and below-ground work. A tunnel boring machine will dig from Eastview to the Kensico Reservoir, cutting almost exclusively through Manhattan schist. “It’s a bit of a misnomer,” Arne Fareth, agency portfolio manager said, of the rock type. “It goes all the way upstate.”  

 The broader project also includes three new chambers built under one contract that the department expects to advertise later this year or early next. Contractors will also modify the facility's upper effluent chamber. Built in 1910, the facility went offline in 2012. To reuse the site, the department has to drastically increase its capacity: The connection is expected to carry 2.6 billion gallons of water per day, roughly three to four times as the capacity of the older chamber.

 Progressive design-build efforts are now underway to safeguard lower Manhattan from climate-driven flooding and storm surges, said Kimberlae Saul, vice president of planning and design at the Battery Park City Authority. She highlighted two projects—the Battery Park City South and North/West resilience—as part of the broader Lower Manhattan Coastal Resilience Program supported by more than $1.7 billion in city, state and federal funding.

 The authority awarded the progressive design-build contract for the North/West project to a joint venture led by Turner Construction Co. and E.E. Cruz & Co. Inc. Saul said her agency is negotiating the guaranteed maximum price with the contractors, which are now conducting buyouts and plan to present the number soon to the agency board. “Fingers crossed everybody approves it,” she said, adding that the authority has no plans to exercise an “offramp” option to convert the project to design-bid-build.