Panel warns of Hudson River tunnel delay

Construction of a second commuter train tunnel under the Hudson River, one of the biggest public works projects under way in the country, could be delayed by issues about the use of eminent domain to take property on the West Side of Manhattan, The New York Times reports.

A report prepared for the
new governor of New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, warned the $8.7-billion
project could be delayed by four to six months if the issues were not resolved.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has pledged $3 billion
toward the project, has begun trying to acquire buildings and obtain permission
to bore under others. Its lawyers have been negotiating with the city over how
much public notice is required before the Port Authority can condemn the property
it wants.

A committee advising
Governor Christie on transportation issues concluded that the required notice
could affect the tunnel-boring contracts that have been awarded. In early
December, New Jersey Transit, the lead agency on the project, awarded a $583-million
contract for the design and construction of the Manhattan side of the tunnel.
Groundbreaking on that segment was scheduled to occur later this year.

Kate Slevin, the executive
director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, an ardent supporter of the
tunnel project, said, "The agencies need to act swiftly to ensure these delays
don’t skyrocket out of control and severely impact the project."

Ron Marsico, a spokesman
for the Port Authority, said the agency "is abiding by its commitment to
acquire property and easements through the city’s eminent domain procedures."
He added, "The timing depends on the outcome of ongoing discussions with the
city’s legal department."

Some operators of
businesses that stand in the way of the proposed project have objected to the
taking of their property to build a train terminal that would be just a block
away from Pennsylvania Station and from the Herald Square subway and PATH train
stations. (The new commuter terminal, which would sit more than 120 feet
beneath 34th Street near Macy’s, was not designed to connect directly to Penn
Station or the subway.)

Port Authority officials
expect that the agency will have to use eminent domain to take some of those
properties, a process that normally requires public hearings and can be fought
in state court.

Paul Wyckoff, a spokesman
for the tunnel project, played down the committee’s suggestion of a long delay,
and officials in New Jersey emphasized that the panel’s views were not
necessarily shared by Governor Christie. However, the governor just appointed
one member of the committee, James Weinstein, to run New Jersey Transit.
Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Governor Christie, referred all questions
about the committee’s report to Wyckoff.

Wyckoff said the officials
overseeing the project were confident that an agreement could be reached
quickly on "the exact process we have to follow for land acquisition in the
city." He said the project was still on schedule to be completed in 2017.

Marsico said that the Port
Authority had acquired or was close to buying three pieces of Manhattan
property needed for the tunnel. It still must obtain permission from about 20
other landowners to bore deep below their property, he said.

The Port Authority got a
head start on the acquisitions in 2008 when it bought a lot on West 33rd Street
from a company controlled by Sam Chang, a developer who has been building
hotels throughout the city over the last several years.

According to city records,
Mr. Chang’s company bought the lot for $24 million in early 2008 with plans to
build a 26-story hotel on it. A few months later, the Port Authority bought it
for $30 million, the records show.