Paul Berger

Staff writer, @pdberger

About this series: The Record and NorthJersey.com launch the “Trump Tracker,” a four-year series that will follow 14 issues important to North Jersey taxpayers, residents and companies – big and small — that could be affected by actions taken by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The intent is not to characterize whether the actions move a particular issue in a positive or negative direction. Rather, it will chart the results of policies created, modified or discontinued over the next four years and how they affect life in New Jersey.

The Trump Tracker will measure changes and trends on such issues as health care, immigration, transportation, job creation, the military, political influence, energy and the environment, regulations, the Newark seaport, infrastructure, passenger rail, taxes, homeland security and the social safety net.

We will update certain topics at least once every three months, offering insights of the new administration, its policies, actions and the trickle-down effects on New Jersey.

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Repairing, upgrading and expanding the rail network along the Northeast Corridor is the single biggest infrastructure problem facing the nation. According to the most conservative estimates, the work will cost tens of billions of dollars and take several decades to complete. That’s before cost overruns and environmental and construction delays have been factored in. Yet the projects are vital to hundreds of thousands of commuters who travel the route every day.

"We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor," Trump said in his Jan. 20, 2017, inaugural speech.

Two tracks, a series of aging bridges and a tunnel that still suffers the aftereffects of Superstorm Sandy are all that stand between commuters and getting to their destination on time. If a swing bridge catches fire, if a locomotive breaks down, if the electrical systems in the 100-year-old tunnel malfunction, everything on the lines between Newark and New York Penn Station grinds to a crawl.

That’s why federal and state officials want to totally overhaul the route, building new bridges, laying two new sets of tracks, digging a new tunnel under the Hudson River and expanding Penn Station. As a sign of how critical the program is to the country, the Obama administration added Gateway to the president’s permitting dashboard, which streamlines the permitting and review process.

Gateway is a mammoth project, estimated at $23.9 billion. The federal government has committed to providing 50 percent of the financing, with the other 50 percent coming from New Jersey and New York. Gateway is also a race against time because the current trans-Hudson tunnel, damaged by chemical residue from Sandy, needs to be closed down for repairs. Unless a new tunnel can be built before then, train capacity will be reduced by 75 percent, forcing tens of thousands of commuters to find alternate ways to reach work.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which is overseeing the program, recently announced $2.7 billion towards the cost of replacing one bridge and starting work on digging the new tunnel. That’s about one-quarter of the estimated cost of the two projects. It will take an injection of money from the federal government — as well as the two states — and a continued federal commitment to making the program a priority to avert a commuting nightmare.





The Northeast Corridor — between Boston and Washington, D.C. — is the busiest railroad in the country, carrying 2,200 trains over some portion of the route every day. Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration published a recommendation for billions of dollars to be spent repairing lines and upgrading trains to provide faster, more modern train travel along the East Coast. The goal is to shave 45 minutes off the travel time between New York City and Boston and 35 minutes off the travel time between New York and Washington. Last year, the agency announced a $2.45 billion loan to Amtrak for new trains and station upgrades along the route. But Amtrak will need billions more, not just to keep pace but also to serve the estimated 23 percent growth in people living along the corridor by 2040.

SOCIAL SAFETY NET: Trump's pledge to protect programs at odds with party

REGULATIONS: Trump targets rules, but questions remain about which ones

JOBS: Trump could boost jobs, but no quick fix for manufacturing

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY: Clean Power Plan, Superfund and offshore drilling all could change

TAXES: Trump, GOP have different ideas for reform

MILITARY: Veterans healthcare, troop levels, weapons all face changes

SEAPORT: Tariffs could hurt import/export at Newark port

EDUCATION: School choice, Common Core repeal on Trump's list

POLITICAL INFLUENCE: Blue state in a red Capitol: How will New Jersey fare?

INFRASTRUCTURE: Bridges, roads and rail all need funds for repair

IMMIGRATION: Issue dominated Trump's campaign

HOMELAND SECURITY: TSA screening wait times, federal funding top list of questions

HEALTHCARE: Coverage for 700,000 at stake in New Jersey