Construction of the Hudson River Tunnel resumes. The court forced the White House to hand over the funds

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that work on the $16 billion tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting New York with New Jersey, will resume next week, and the Donald Trump administration has released funds for this project that have been blocked so far. This is the result of the court's decision.

“After our initial court victory and my conversation with the president, the Trump administration paid out the remaining $127 million in outstanding Gateway Tunnel financing. Construction will resume next week. This is a huge victory for workers and commuters,” Hochul wrote on Platform X. She also announced her continued fight for the federal government to fulfill its obligations.

The $16 billion rail tunnel project between New York and New Jersey has been the subject of a dispute between the White House and state authorities for months. The federal government has committed to providing USD 11 billion for this purpose. But during the shutdown in the fall, the Trump administration froze federal funding. Work on the project was suspended last week.

On Monday, Trump wrote on his own social media platform, Truth Social, that is against Gateway, which he described as “wasteful”because – as he argued – the costs of its implementation will be much higher than expected. He estimated that the project would be “financially disastrous for the region.”

He also referred to reports that he offered to unblock funds in exchange for naming New York's main train station (Penn Station) and Washington's Dulles International Airport after him. Trump assured that it was not he but a “group of politicians” behind this idea. Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, when asked about these reports, did not deny them, but said that she saw no reason why these facilities should not be named after the president.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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