Utility relocation small, but critical step for Gateway Program

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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Gateway Program Development Corporation

The Gateway Program Development Corporation (GDC) is lauding a financial agreement that will allow for utilities to be relocated from the path of Section 3 of the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing project.

The utility relocation is a small step in the progress of the Gateway Program.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) agreed to fund $12.5 million of the project, which is planned in collaboration with Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and The Related Companies. Officials explained that the utility relocation project involving LIRR’s Emergency Services Building is a critical path activity that paves for the way for construction of the third and final section of the concrete casing. The concrete casing preserves the right-of-way for the future tunnel under the rapidly advancing Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s west side.

Two sections of the concrete casing have been built underground in the block bordered by 10th and 11th Avenues and 30th and 33rd Streets. Construction of the first 800-foot section (between 10th and 11th Avenues) began in August 2013 and was completed about a year later. The second section extended the project west another 105 feet under the 11th Avenue viaduct in Manhattan and was completed in 2016.

The next step involves extending the casing on a diagonal alignment from 11th Avenue to 30th Street, where it will link up with the Hudson Tunnel Project.

“The GDC is focused entirely on Phase 1 of the Gateway Program right now – including the Hudson Yards connection to a new tunnel – which will eliminate single points of failure that jeopardize 10 percent of America’s GDP,” said John D. Porcari, interim executive director of the Gateway Development Corp. “I commend [PANYNJ] and Amtrak for their collaboration in identifying and committing this funding. Finishing the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing is an essential step toward construction of a new tunnel.”

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