State leaders urge Trump administration to help with rail tunnel project

<p>Gov. Phil Murphy and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez are calling on the Trump administration to get on board with the Gateway Rail Tunnel Project.</p>

News 12 Staff

Sep 4, 2018, 9:39 PM

Updated 2,263 days ago

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Gov. Phil Murphy and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez are calling on the Trump administration to get on board with the Gateway Rail Tunnel Project.
The governor and senator were joined by other lawmakers Tuesday to urge the president and the federal government to do their part in helping to replace the Portal North Bridge and to help fund the rail tunnel project. Officials say that the bridge and tunnel are over 100 years old and are in need of replacement.
"We are ready for the Trump administration to step up to the plate with us. We are ready to do Gateway together,” Murphy said. “The Gateway project is not just a New Jersey-New York thing. There is perhaps no project in which the economic future of our entire country and our national security are so…intertwined."
Experts say that if infrastructure fails, it could cripple the area transportation-wise. Hundreds of thousands of people travel to New York City from New Jersey via the rail system.
Murphy says that the Gateway project is not political and should not be a political issue. He says New Jersey has done its part financially to get the project moving and that the federal government needs to do its part.
Sen. Menendez also discussed the amount of jobs the project will bring to New Jersey.