U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and U.S. Reps. Albio Sires (D-8th District) and Donald Payne (D-10th District) recently joined the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) Executive Director Patrick Foye to announce $255,529,424 in federal grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to repair damage sustained by the PATH rail system during Superstorm Sandy.
“Nearly three years after the storm, these much-needed grants help us with the ongoing recovery to our state’s vital public transit network and ensure the PATH system is more resilient than it was before the storm,” Menendez said. “When Sandy battered New Jersey, it sent an unprecedented storm surge up the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that flooded PATH stations and tunnels — and New Jersey commuters need to be assured the system is getting repaired properly. I vow to continue fighting for the federal funding needed for all commuters, homeowners, businesses and communities in the Garden State.”
The USDOT has awarded the following grants through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Public Transportation Emergency Relief program:
• $199,264,500
For the full replacement of substations 7, 8, 9 and 14, which provide operational electricity to the PATH system; under-platform fans at PATH’s Hoboken station; and additional funding to replace three Sandy-damaged inground lifts at the Harrison Car Maintenance Facility (HCMF) used to maintain and repair the PATH rail cars.
• $24,587,549
For additional Locally Prioritized Resilience (LPR) projects to improve resiliency at various facilities and for systems for the following projects: Hackensack River Bridge Permanent Emergency Fuel Tank; resiliency projects at Hoboken Station; Emergency Diesel Generators at the HCMF and PATH’s C-Yard and Cast-In-Place Walls around various substations and bungalows.
• $31,677,375
For the construction of an Automatic Flood Barrier at the HCMF and a Concrete Seawall, east of the HCMF.
“The Port Authority has worked tirelessly in the nearly three years since Superstorm Sandy devastated our region to repair the PATH rail system’s compromised infrastructure and reduce the potential of future storm damage,” said Port Authority Chairman John Degnan. “We could not have done this without the continuing leadership and efforts of our governors and the region’s Congressional delegation to help secure the necessary federal funding to cover the majority costs of these critical projects.”
In 2013, the President Obama signed the Superstorm Sandy Supplemental Appropriations bill into law, bringing the total Sandy aid enacted to $60.2 billion.
The funding package included federal aid to help homeowners, businesses and communities recover and resources to help rebuild coastal, transportation and water infrastructure.
