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Why the tunnel?
As our economy grows, so does the amount of goods coming into the region. The total tonnage of goods moved through the region is projected to grow 70% by the year 2025. Today's railroads do not have the capacity to move these goods efficiently, nor do our over-crowded highways. Investing in our freight rail infrastructure, beginning with the construction of the Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel, is the only way to successfully expand our capacity for sustainable freight movement and economic growth. We cannot continue to rely on our highways and bridge crossings.
The Current Situation
Today, a lot of the freight destined for New York is moved by train from the south and western parts of the United States, but it gets only as far as Jersey City by rail, because there is no direct connection to railroads east of the Hudson. Instead, the vast majority of goods are transferred to trucks in New Jersey and then carried over our bridges and highways to their final destination. Only 1.75 percent of freight moves by rail in the region east of the Hudson.
The underdevelopment of our freight rail network will increasingly compromise our region's economy and quality of life. Limited freight rail service ends up clogging our roads, driving up the cost of doing business, constraining our economic growth, and worsening air quality in neighborhoods with record high asthma rates.
The city conducted a two-year study on the benefits of connecting rail lines east and west of the Hudson by constructing a tunnel under New York Harbor. According to this study, if a double-track tunnel were built, nearly 15 million tons of freight per year would be taken off our roads and move by rail instead (and a single-track tunnel would divert 9.4 million tons from trucks). If we invest in the tunnel, we can move freight more easily through the region, increase our capacity for economic growth, reduce lost productivity due to travel times, minimize air pollution and move toward a greener future.
To see EDC's Major Investment Study go to www.crossharborstudy.org
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