Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a proposed commuter-rail project to increase passenger service capacity on New Jersey Transit (NJT) between Secaucus Junction in New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City. New infrastructure would have included new trackage, a new rail yard, and a tunnel under the Hudson River. A new station adjacent to New York Penn Station was to be constructed as running more trains into the current station was deemed unfeasible. An estimated budget for the project was $8.7 billion. Construction began in mid-2009 and the project was slated for completion in 2018, but it was cancelled in October 2010 by Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, who cited the possibility of cost overruns and the state's lack of funds. Six hundred million dollars had been spent on the project. The decision remains controversial.
After its cancellation, the federal government demanded repayment of funding received by NJT for the project. The Christie administration engaged a law firm to present its arguments for non-payment, which were subsequently rejected by the Federal Transit Administration. An agreement was eventually reached in which part of the funds would be returned while other monies would be used on transit-related projects.
Soon after work was halted, there was speculation that the previously discussed idea of the New York City Transit Authority's 7 Subway Extension continuing into New Jersey would be revived, but was later scuttled. In February 2011, Amtrak announced the Gateway Project, a plan to build a right of way and new tunnels from Newark Penn Station to New York Penn Station, passing through Secaucus Junction, which would be shared with NJT trains.
Christie later directed PANYNJ funding toward New Jersey road projects. A March 2012 Government Accountability Office investigated the decision to cancel the project and provided comments that questioned Christie's rationale. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. and Securities and Exchange Commission conducted investigations into possible misuse of PANYNJ funds towards projects involving roadways possibly not under the agency's purview, such as the Pulaski Skyway. Eventually $400,000 in fines were paid.
Overview
Infrastructure
The project would have more than doubled the number of trains from New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan, providing direct, one-seat service from most of New Jersey Transit's rail lines, as well as more frequent service to in-state destinations. The improvement would have included the construction of two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River as a supplement to the North River Tunnels, which operate at 100% capacity. The new tunnels would have connected to a six-track, state-of-the-art construction of a new station under 34th Street east of the existing Penn Station with pedestrian connections to the existing station and the Eighth, Seventh, Sixth Avenue, and Broadway lines of the New York City Subway. Also planned were a new rail loop near the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station allowing Main Line/Bergen County Line and Pascack Valley Line trains direct service to Midtown, and a new mid-day rail storage yard in the Kearny Meadows.New Jersey Transit (October 2008). Newark, NJ. "Access to the Region's Core: Final Environmental Impact Study." Executive Summary. While the terminal station would have dead-ended trains, there was hope that it would one day be extended eastward depending on future funding.
Cost and funding
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) projected the cost for ARC as $8.7 billion in their 2009 Annual Report on Funding Recommendations for the New Starts Program, which identified the funding for the project as follows. Federal New Starts = $3.0 billion Federal American Recovery & Reinvestment Act = $0.130 billion Federal Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program & Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) = $1.320 billion Port Authority of New York and New Jersey = $3.0 billion New Jersey Turnpike Authority = $1.250 billion
Projections rose to close to $11 billion by the time of the cancellation of New Jersey's funding of the project It is estimated that $610 million has been spent on the project. Before being terminated, the Port Authority had purchased, or otherwise acquired rights or leased land on Manhattan's West Side. About $250 million was spent on studies and design. Condemnation procedures initiated by the state for properties along the route in Hudson County were left pending at various stages after the cancellation.
Christie later directed that funding be directed to road projects. In March 2011 the PANYNJ agreed to redirect $1.8 billion earmarked for the project to repairs to road and bridges in Hudson County that it saw as part of the larger network of the distribution system in the Port of New York and New Jersey. In September 2011, the Turnpike Authority voted to spend the funds committed to the project on roads within the state.
Project history
Design In 1995, the ARC project began with the initiation of the Access to the Region's Core Major Investment Study (MIS) in which an initial list of 137 alternatives was identified, including bus, light rail, subway, Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail, commuter rail, ferry, new technologies, and auto. This Major Investment Study was completed in 2003, and recommended two alternatives for advancement into a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Alternative P would create new tracks and platforms under the existing Penn Station. Alternative S would create a new rail link to existing Penn Station as well as new East River Tunnels to expanded rail storage facilities at Sunnyside Yard. Alternative G would have provided a link to Grand Central Terminal, but that alternative was not recommended for further advancement.
The environmental review stage lasted from 2003 to 2009. In the very early stages of the project, there were plans for track connections from the new tunnels to existing Penn Station, the Penn Station Connector, which would have provided NJ Transit and Amtrak with the operational flexibility to use either the existing rail tunnels or the new ARC tunnels. In order to achieve a less than two percent grade from the low point in the tunnel under the river to Penn Station, the Penn Station Connector would have to diverge from the new ARC tunnels somewhere under the Hudson River. This would have required approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Coast Guard to allow construction of a very large, expensive cofferdam mid-river. Regulatory approvals seemed unlikely; construction of the cofferdam would have disrupted the contaminated river bottom, which was previously declared a Superfund site and would have obstructed busy river shipping channels. In addition to Hudson River impacts, the Penn Station Connector would have required excavation of a wide trench across Manhattan's West Side. Known as cut and cover tunneling construction, this wide trench would have displaced many businesses and residents and required unlikely support from the Hudson River Park Trust, Community Boards, and other stakeholder organizations.
After the initial engineering and expert peer review in 2006 and 2007, NJ Transit determined that moving the station deeper and using modern tunnel boring techniques was the only way to avoid environmental, community, and engineering concerns. The agency opted to construct an underground terminal, which later became a source of controversy.
Design and construction management contracts were awarded respectively to THE Partnership, a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff, STV, and DMJM Harris/AECOM, and CM Consortium, a joint venture of Tishman, Parsons Corp. and ARUP, both in 2006.
In July 2006, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced its decision to allow preliminary engineering to begin on the new trans-Hudson rail tunnel. Supporters called the FTA's announcement a positive sign that the federal government eventually intended to commit funding to the project. The FTA approved the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project in January 2007, and the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) in March 2008. The SDEIS identified and evaluated the environmental impacts of a deeper profile tunnel with no track connections to existing Penn Station. These changes to the project scope were necessitated by a significant number of environmental, community, and engineering concerns regarding construction of the previous shallow tunnel and station. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was approved in October 2008. In January 2009, the FTA issued the Record of Decision for the project and approved the start of final design.
Beginning of construction
The first construction contract was awarded to construct a new railroad underpass at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen in June 2009, and the project's groundbreaking was held on June 8, 2009. The Palisades Tunnels construction contract, the first major tunneling contract for the project was awarded on May 5, 2010.
Cancellation Governor Christie endorsed the project in April 2010, but his support for the project was later called into question. On September 10, 2010, with final design and construction on the first two contracts was already underway, NJ Transit's executive director, James Weinstein, ordered work on the tunnel to be suspended for 30 days for a 30-day risk review of the project's cost and schedule, because of concerns that the project would go $1 billion over budget which the State of New Jersey could not afford to pay. News reports mentioned the possibility that Governor Christie's administration was considering scrapping the project to use the project's funding to replenish New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund, however New Jersey's Transportation Commissioner James S. Simpson denied that the Administration ever contemplated such a possibility.
On October 7, 2010, New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced that the ARC Tunnel project was officially cancelled, citing rising costs and concerns over New Jersey residents fronting the bill for the estimated $15 billion project. The next day the governor agreed to a two-week reprieve, so that additional options for funding the tunnel could be developed. Christie did briefly reconsider, reviewing options in discussions with US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, but made a final decision to terminate the project on October 27, 2010.
At the time of cancellation, construction was already underway on the Tonnelle Avenue Underpass and the Palisades Tunnels, one of the project's three tunnel segments in the project. The construction contract for the Manhattan Tunnels was pending award to Barnard-Judlau JV. The Hudson River Tunnels, the third and final tunnel construction contract, was in the procurement phase.
Funding repayment controversy The cancellation forfeited federal funding for the project, and put into question the use of Port Authority money. In November 2010, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood agreed to an arrangement proposed by New Jersey's congressional delegation in which the state would return $271 million already received for the project and the federal DOT would in turn put $128 million into the state's Congestion Mitigation Air Quality account to be used on future projects. The Christie administration did not accept the offer.
The federal government then demanded total repayment by New Jersey of federal grants, as stipulated under federal law. The Christie administration has refused to repay and is involved in legal proceedings to avoid doing so. The Federal Transit Administration requested that the state repay $271,101,291 by December 24, 2010. New Jersey hired the Washington, D.C. law firm Patton Boggs to argue against the repayment. As of April 2011, Patton Boggs had billed the state $803,000 in legal fees.