PANYNJ invests $1B in recovery following Superstorm Sandy

PATH

Five years after Superstorm Sandy caused flooding and devastation to Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PANYNJ) facilities, the agency announced that it has invested nearly $1 billion to date to recover, protect and rebuild in the storm's aftermath.

PANYNJ announced additional plans to invest the remainder of the currently estimated economic loss of $2.8 billion in the coming years to further rebuild, protect and add resiliency to agency assets.

Over the past five years, the agency has completed more than 80 projects, with another 65 Sandy-related capital projects in progress. Projects including work on the PATH system and the Holland Tunnel are being staged to minimize disruption to daily, 24×7 operations. The Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have and will continue to provide grant funding essential to PANYNJ’s recovery, repair and resiliency initiatives. Currently, it is expected that, in aggregate, the available insurance coverage and federal disaster relief funds will substantially cover PANYNJ’s estimated damage and resiliency costs.

“Superstorm Sandy devastated this region causing unprecedented damage to critical Port Authority assets, including the PATH rail system,” said PANYNJ Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “The multi-billion-dollar recovery and resiliency investments will better protect our facilities from the impact of future storms, and keep our millions of customers moving, and our regional jobs and economy growing.”

Improvements to PATH include:

A combination of permanent and deployable flood barriers will be installed at PATH’s Grove Street, Newport, Exchange Place and Hoboken stations.

A project to repair dozens of PATH cars damaged by Sandy-related storm surge and a major project to clean salt from the tunnels that connect the World Trade Center PATH Station to the Exchange Place Station.

Installation of concrete seawall and automatic flood barrier at PATH’s Harrison Car Maintenance Facility to protect PATH’s main rail car repair facility and electrical substations adjacent to the facility.

Improvements to PATH’s Rail Yard Extension to enable PATH to store more rail vehicles outside of the flood zone.

PANYNJ made investments in Sandy-related projects at its transportation facilities including airports, TB&T, port facilities and the World Trade Center, as well.