THE Gateway Development Commission (GDC) has awarded a joint venture of Traylor, Walsh and Skanska a $US 1.29bn contract to build the new twin-bore rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey that is GDC is delivering under the Hudson Tunnel Project.
Work is expected to begin in the coming months on Package 1C covering the Hudson River Tunnel section, the major tunnelling contract for the project. Two tunnels each 2.2km in length will be constructed under the river between the Hudson County access shaft in Weehawken, New Jersey, and the 12th Avenue access shaft on the West Side of Manhattan.
The contractor will deploy two new tunnel boring machines (TBM) designed for mixed ground conditions including rock, soft soil, and the block of stabilised earth created under the Hudson River in preparation for tunnelling.
Package 1C also includes the construction of nine cross-passages between the twin bores, stabilising ground beneath a section of the Hudson - Bergen light rail line in New Jersey, and constructing a permanent underground support system to strengthen a section of the Willow Avenue road bridge between Weehawken and Hoboken in New Jersey.
GDC says that six of the 10 construction packages for the Hudson Tunnel Project are in progress or have been completed, with all major civil engineering contracts now awarded. At either end of cross-river Package 1C, work is in progress on Package 1A, covering the connecting Palisades Tunnel in New Jersey, and Package 1B for the Manhattan Tunnel.
“We’re firing on all cylinders now and the progress we are making is plain to see at our construction sites on both sides of the river,” says GDC CEO, Tom Prendergast. “It is critical we maintain this momentum going forward.”
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