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Hudson River train tunnel construction to disrupt West Side drivers, cyclists
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Jul 9, 2025
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Stephen Nessen / Gothamist
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Jul 9, 2025
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The country’s most expensive mass transit construction project is slated to add some speed bumps for drivers and cyclists on Manhattan’s West Side.
The Gateway Development Commission plans to spend $16 billion to build a new set of train tunnels beneath the Hudson River, and eventually close and repair Amtrak’s existing 115-year-old set of rail tubes. The project received federal funding last year, and this week project executives offered a tour of their progress — while warning of incoming changes to the West Side Highway and Hudson River Greenway.
Workers have already cut down trees on the West Side Highway’s median near West 30th Street. Project officials said they plan to remove the median entirely in order to shift traffic lanes over to make space on the east side of the highway as soon as next month. In that space, crews will insert pipes into the ground that will pump cold water to “freeze” the riverbed in order to make it stable enough to dig beneath.
“We're going to work very hard to make sure that the traffic flows as unimpeded as possible,” Gateway Development Commission spokesperson Stephen Sigmund said.
When the project is complete, the new tube will emerge from the river just east of the highway to connect with the Penn Station-bound tunnels below Hudson Yards.
Gateway officials said the work would also interrupt cyclists and pedestrians on the Hudson River Greenway near West 30th Street. The construction plan would divert the path around a construction area on the west side of the highway, but officials said they did not know when that work would begin.
How traffic and cyclists will be affected on the West Side Highway and Hudson River Greenway during construction.
Stephen Nessen
The interruptions to West Side traffic are expected to last until early 2027. The overall construction of the new train tunnels is scheduled to end in 2035.
Traffic expert “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz said the project shouldn’t cause major disruptions to car traffic, so long as the West Side Highway’s traffic lanes aren’t reduced.
“ However, anytime there is a construction site, there's a bit of a slowdown,” he said. “If they are transporting material you'll see trucks on the roadway and that may in fact result in temporary disruption, but it shouldn't be a big headache for drivers.”
The project still needs approval from the state Department of Transportation, which is in charge of the West Side Highway. State transportation officials said they were still reviewing the plan.
Crews have since 2023 been digging under Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen to make room for a section of the new train tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river. Sigmund noted that, similar to Gateway’s plans for Manhattan, the Tonnelle Avenue work has also forced crews to shift traffic on a busy stretch of the street.
Tagged
manhattan
new jersey
new york city
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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