Construction on the nation’s largest public works project will pause in early February unless the Trump administration releases money it has held up since last fall, according to a person close to the project granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The Hudson River tunnel project — a $16 billion pair of train tubes to connect New York and New Jersey — is running out of money and a Feb. 6 pause will force 1,000 layoffs, including hundreds of laborers, according to the person.
The Trump administration threatened to defund the project at the start of last year’s government shutdown. Since then, administration officials have been putting out mixed signals, with some insisting it would get its money.
But President Donald Trump has taunted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who has championed the rail link, by saying the project was “terminated.” The two had a rare one-on-one meeting about the project earlier this month and Schumer warned the president that the project urgently needs money. The federal government promised during the Biden administration that it would pick up the bulk of the project’s costs.
