A massive £12.63bn ($16bn) mega-tunnel is set to be built in world-famous New York City in the hopes of ending traffic.
The mega-tunnel will be located beneath the River Hudson, linking New York and New Jersey.
President Joe Biden has previously labelled the project “one of the biggest and most consequential in the country”.
The mammoth project entails erecting two new 2.4-mile-long tunnels along with the renovation of the weathered North River Tunnel, inaugurated in 1910 and corrupted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
These revamped passages are set to boost capacity and enable better rail resilience, connecting pivotal points like New York and New Jersey, New England and Washington DC.
Gateway Development Commission, a government-backed US agency, supervises the project.
It is expected to procure around $12bn from federal funding – marking it the largest-ever investment in mass transit in recent US history.
In January, Biden highlighted the importance of the existing rail tunnels, stating that 200,000 passengers use them daily and that a one-day closure would cost the American economy a staggering $100m.
He hailed the Hudson Tunnel scheme as “the beginning of finally constructing a 21st-century rail system that’s long, long overdue in this country”. He also emphasised its role as “critical to transforming the Northeast Corridor, increasing speeds, capacity, reliability, and safety”.
Mace, known for its involvement in major UK projects like the London 2012 Olympics and Heathrow Terminal Five, has been selected as a delivery partner.
The company’s involvement in the Hudson Tunnel project marks its third mega-project in the Americas, following its appointments to Metrolinx in Canada and Peru’s Autoridad Nacional de Infraestructura.
Jason Millett, Mace’s group deputy chief executive, expressed confidence in the delivery partner model, stating: “From our experience bringing complex mega-projects to life around the world, we know the delivery partner model will provide the collaborative approach and certainty required for a programme of this scale.”
Greg Steele, global president of mobility at Arcadis, highlighted the project’s significance, saying: “The Gateway Hudson Tunnel will be a model of resilient infrastructure to future-proof safe and sustainable travel along the nation’s most economically vital corridor.”
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