News Summary

  • The Gateway Development Commission has approved an $88 million change order to hire contractor Weeks Marine to remove approximately 500 underwater wooden piles in the Hudson River tunnel project between New York and New Jersey.
  • According to GDC Project Delivery Director Jim Starace at the agency's board meeting on July 8, the GDC expects work related to the change order to begin later this year and be completed before the start of Hudson River tunnel boring in 2028.
  • The GDC said removing the remaining piles at Pier 68 and performing ground stabilization work will significantly reduce the likelihood of obstacles when tunnel boring machines advance in that area.

In-Depth Analysis

GDC CEO Tom Prendergast said at the meeting that the change order, attached to the Hudson River Ground Stabilization portion of the Hudson Tunnel Project, aims to proactively address factors that could negatively impact tunnel boring under the river.

The scope of work first includes clearing obstacles along the tunnel boring machine's path. Then, the construction team will mix lightweight concrete into the riverbed soil to ensure the soil is strong enough for the machine to excavate, the GDC said.

"Large projects, especially one as massive and complex as the Hudson Tunnel Project, bring new challenges every day. The GDC has successfully delivered the project so far by thinking ahead, anticipating problems, and taking proactive action," Prendergast said at the meeting. "This change order is an example. In my years of project management experience, one of the core themes is identifying foreseeable risks, mitigating those risks, and taking action to ensure as much mitigation as possible is completed."

The original project scope was to prepare a specific 1,200-foot-long, 100-foot-wide section of riverbed for tunnel boring. According to the GDC, work began in the middle of the Hudson River in 2024 and has since progressed eastward toward Manhattan.

"The project has provided important lessons that are being applied to the change order work, including the need to work within cofferdams to withstand the strong currents of the Hudson River, the possibility that some piles may break when pulled from the riverbed, and the need to strengthen the soil around removed piles to fill voids," Starace said at the meeting. "After evaluating multiple options, it was concluded that incorporating this work into the scope of the existing Hudson River Ground Stabilization project is the most efficient and cost-effective approach."

The change order extends the original work area approximately 265 feet toward Manhattan and adds activities related to handling piles left in the riverbed from the demolition of Pier 68.

Weeks Marine, a contractor headquartered in Cranford, New Jersey, and a subsidiary of Kiewit, has already completed mobilization on the Hudson River, Starace said. He added that the contractor has specialized marine construction experience and has removed a small number of piles in 2025 to better understand the work needed to prepare that section of riverbed for tunnel boring.