Even after saying his retirement as head of the MTA on the day the Second Avenue Subway opened in 2017, Tom Prendergast figured he won’t be finished with transit megaprojects.
“In the back of my mind, I always knew that if an opportunity availed itself, I was going to take advantage of it,” Prendergast advised THE CITY Wednesday.
Now the previous MTA chief government — who additionally led New York Metropolis Transit and the Lengthy Island Rail Highway throughout greater than 20 years with North America’s largest public-transit authority — has one other mammoth undertaking on his plate as the brand new head of the Gateway Program, whose centerpiece is constructing a $16 billion rail tunnel within the Hudson River.
Prendergast was final month appointed chief government officer of the Gateway Growth Fee, the bi-state public authority whose tunnel building undertaking is on the coronary heart of a community of passenger rail enhancements between New York Penn Station and Newark Penn Station for 200,000 each day New Jersey Transit and Amtrak riders.
After spending the previous few years at AECOM, the infrastructure consulting large, the revered transportation veteran now takes an much more daunting problem than opening three new stations deep beneath Second Avenue.
At age 72, he’s taken the highest job at a bi-state public authority, what’s billed as “the most urgent major infrastructure program in the country.”
“To be involved in a signature project that brings that much value is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Prendgast mentioned.
5 Gateway contracts have been awarded up to now, together with one on Predergast’s first day for building on the Manhattan aspect of the tunnel.
“It’s a massive public works project and it’s got all of the things you want in a public works project,” mentioned Kate Slevin, government vp of the Regional Plan Affiliation. “Not only is it good for the economy and job creation, but it’s also good for the environment and the quality of life here.”
It goals to construct two passenger rail tubes inside a single tunnel within the Hudson by 2035 and finally rehabilitate the present pair of 115-year-old tubes that had been closely broken by flooding throughout Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“Two out of three days of service, there is some kind of delay related to the infrastructure,” Prendergast mentioned. “So that infrastructure needs to be upgraded and brought to a state of good repair.”
Former MTA chair Thomas Prendergast is main the Gateway Tunnel undertaking, Feb. 19, 2025. Credit score: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
Gateway emerged after then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in 2010 scrapped a Hudson River rail tunnel undertaking generally known as Entry to the Area’s Core.
Work has been underway in Hudson Yards for near a decade on the section of the brand new tunnel that may finally join with New York Penn Station. As well as, the underside of the Hudson River is being stabilized for building of a 1,200-foot-long concrete field which is able to permit two huge machines to cave out the New Jersey portion of the tunnel.
Whereas a good portion of the undertaking will likely be finished largely out of view to the general public, Prendergast mentioned residents on either side of the Hudson must know of the significance of the work.
“Our job is to effectively communicate in a very transparent way all the work that’s going on so people see what that money is being spent on,” he mentioned.
A $12 billion dedication for federal funding is in place and several other contracts have already been awarded for varied elements of The Gateway Program. But, questions stay over whether or not it might be slowed beneath President Donald Trump, whose first administration created some bureaucratic obstacles.
“We’ve seen in the past that these projects have bipartisan support because they deliver so many benefits for everyday riders and for the regional economy,” Slevin mentioned.
An evaluation final 12 months by the Gateway Growth Fee estimated that the undertaking will create 95,000 jobs throughout building — 20,000 greater than estimated in a 2017 Environmental Examine — and generate billions of {dollars} in financial exercise.
Among the many preliminary undertakings set to start out within the coming months is building on a piece of the brand new tubes from a bulkhead within the Hudson that may hook up with the Hudson Yards concrete casing, all whereas defending current utilities and sewer traces.
The technically advanced undertaking additionally requires staying in good graces with the White Home, Congress and the governors of New York and New Jersey — and dealing with a number of states, cities, railroads, property homeowners, enterprise leaders, the general public and rail passengers.
“You need to make sure that working on one goal doesn’t cause problems meeting the others,” Philip Plotch, principal researcher and senior fellow with the Eno Middle for Transportation, advised THE CITY. “It’s like working on a Rubik’s Cube with one hand and juggling flaming torches with the other, while walking on a tightrope surrounded by axe-throwing cannibals.”
Plotch — a former MTA planner whose 2020 e-book “Last Subway: The Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City,” chronicled the decades-long quest to construct the Second Avenue line — mentioned finishing Gateway is vital for your entire Northeast Hall rail line between Washington D.C. and Boston.
“New York lives and dies by its transportation system,” he mentioned. “We’ve built an island with millions of people and millions of jobs because we have great rail service.”
Elected officers from New York and New Jersey praised Prendergast’s appointment final month, whereas former colleagues mentioned he’s the best man for an unlimited job.
”He’s going to be superb at it as a result of he understands it from each side — he is aware of transportation, he is aware of building, he is aware of the railroads, he is aware of the area,” mentioned Carmen Bianco, who Prendergast introduced in as president of New York Metropolis Transit after he was named head of the MTA in 2013.
“He’s a wonderful catch for them and he should bring them a lot of good will.”
Prendergast mentioned the job is the best match and that the “uniqueness” of delivering a single megaproject, as an alternative of getting to function service whereas constructing round building, shouldn’t be misplaced on him.
“There was always the constant battle of like, ‘How do you deliver service and build something?’” Prendergast mentioned. “Because one gets delivered at the expense of the other.
“The uniqueness of this one, is that’s what makes it different and the criticality of the project for the region.”
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