Subtitle: How politics, and Donald Trump, turned America’s most important repair job into a $30 billion grudge match. A few days ago I posted a long article about the current state of New York's...
Subtitle: How politics, and Donald Trump, turned America’s most important repair job into a $30 billion grudge match.
A few days ago I posted a long article about the current state of New York's subway system. Here we have a deep dive into another critical link in the area's transportation chain that is literally falling apart: the tunnels that link New York and New Jersey underneath the Hudson River. This pair of century-old tunnels carries trains for New Jersey Transit (a major commuter railroad) and Amtrak's northeast corridor. The combination of age and an inundation of saltwater from Hurricane Sandy has led to a sharp increase of delays in train traffic due to failing infrastructure in the tunnels. There is also the nearby Portal Bridge in New Jersey, also 100 years old, which carries the same trains and opens and closes to accommodate shipping traffic. According to the article it now experiences problems on one out of every seven times it's opened, and workers sometimes have to use sledgehammers to get it back in the correct position! A massive failure of the tunnels or the bridge would cripple transportation along the eastern seaboard, with economic consequences that could trigger another recession.
The current proposal to replace this infrastructure is called the Gateway project, estimated to cost $30 billion. Predictably, it has been ground to a halt due to the massive cost and the politics surrounding the project (mostly rooted in the Trump/Schumer rivalry, but also concerns from conservatives in Congress about funding massive projects in Democratic leaning states). This is after a previous proposal, the ARC tunnel, was killed by New Jersey's governor several years ago, also because of politics.
It is glaringly obvious that this infrastructure needs to be replaced ASAP. All experts agree that it's only a matter of time till there is a failure that will cause massive economic consequences for the entire US, not to mention more misery for hundreds of thousands of daily commuters. It remains to be seen whether the people with the power to avert the crisis will actually do so before it's too late.
Everyone involved sees and understands how necessary this is and yet. It makes my blood boil that this uber-obstructionist playbook is being used and has been used constantly recently.
Everyone involved sees and understands how necessary this is and yet. It makes my blood boil that this uber-obstructionist playbook is being used and has been used constantly recently.
Subtitle: How politics, and Donald Trump, turned America’s most important repair job into a $30 billion grudge match.
A few days ago I posted a long article about the current state of New York's subway system. Here we have a deep dive into another critical link in the area's transportation chain that is literally falling apart: the tunnels that link New York and New Jersey underneath the Hudson River. This pair of century-old tunnels carries trains for New Jersey Transit (a major commuter railroad) and Amtrak's northeast corridor. The combination of age and an inundation of saltwater from Hurricane Sandy has led to a sharp increase of delays in train traffic due to failing infrastructure in the tunnels. There is also the nearby Portal Bridge in New Jersey, also 100 years old, which carries the same trains and opens and closes to accommodate shipping traffic. According to the article it now experiences problems on one out of every seven times it's opened, and workers sometimes have to use sledgehammers to get it back in the correct position! A massive failure of the tunnels or the bridge would cripple transportation along the eastern seaboard, with economic consequences that could trigger another recession.
The current proposal to replace this infrastructure is called the Gateway project, estimated to cost $30 billion. Predictably, it has been ground to a halt due to the massive cost and the politics surrounding the project (mostly rooted in the Trump/Schumer rivalry, but also concerns from conservatives in Congress about funding massive projects in Democratic leaning states). This is after a previous proposal, the ARC tunnel, was killed by New Jersey's governor several years ago, also because of politics.
It is glaringly obvious that this infrastructure needs to be replaced ASAP. All experts agree that it's only a matter of time till there is a failure that will cause massive economic consequences for the entire US, not to mention more misery for hundreds of thousands of daily commuters. It remains to be seen whether the people with the power to avert the crisis will actually do so before it's too late.
Your entire country is broken.
Yeah we know, well some of us do.
Everyone involved sees and understands how necessary this is and yet. It makes my blood boil that this uber-obstructionist playbook is being used and has been used constantly recently.