Hudson River Ground Stabilization Project Change Order Approved
The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) Board of Commissioners on July 8 approved a change order to the Hudson River Ground Stabilization (HRGS) Project contract that will add the removal of approximately 500 submerged wooden piles remaining from the demolition of Pier 68 to the project’s original scope of work. This pile removal and ground stabilization work will substantially reduce the possibility that the tunnel boring machines will encounter obstructions as they proceed through this area.
The Board authorized GDC’s Chief Executive Officer to execute the change order with Weeks Marine, the contractor currently performing the HRGS Project. The change order is valued at $88 million. Work is expected to begin in late 2026.
The July 8 Board meeting took place on the two-year anniversary of GDC entering into the Full Funding Grant Agreement for the Hudson Tunnel Project. Signing this agreement was the last step to secure the entire $16 billion funding commitment needed to deliver the project.
“Two years ago today, GDC signed the Full Funding Grant Agreement for the Hudson Tunnel Project. The progress we have made since then is undeniable. The first Hudson Tunnel Project construction package is complete and six more packages are in progress. Today we took an important action to ensure we maintain this momentum as we move forward with tunnel boring,” said Alicia Glen, New York GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, Balpreet Grewal-Virk, New Jersey GDC Commissioner and Co-Chair, and Tony Coscia, GDC Amtrak Commissioner and Vice Chair, in a joint statement. “We would not be here today without the support of our partners who fought to secure funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project, especially Governor Hochul and Governor Sherrill. We remain committed to working collaboratively with all our partners to deliver the reliable, modern rail system our region needs.”
“A project as large and complex as the Hudson Tunnel Project brings new challenges every day. The progress we have made in the two years since we signed our Full Funding Grant Agreement was not guaranteed when the agreement was signed. It is the result of hundreds of men and women showing up and working hard day in and day out for the past two years,” said GDC CEO Tom Prendergast. “Today’s Board action shows how GDC makes progress by thinking ahead, anticipating problems, and taking proactive action. This forward-thinking approach has been the foundation of our success for the past two years, and we will continue to bring this same rigor to the project until it is finished. The Hudson Tunnel Project is too important for anything less.”
In April, GDC awarded the contract for Hudson Tunnel Project Package 1C: The Hudson River Tunnel Section. This construction package will use two mixed-use tunnel boring machines to build the stretch of the new tunnel tubes under the Hudson River. It is one of the most technically complex construction packages because it requires tunneling through mixed conditions, including rock, soft soil, and fill that was used to expand the Manhattan shoreline.
The Hudson River Ground Stabilization (HRGS) Project is proactively addressing factors that could negatively impact tunnel boring under the river. The project involves removing obstructions from the route the tunnel boring machines will travel, then mixing lightweight concrete into the riverbed to ensure it is firm enough for the machines to dig through.
The project was originally scoped to prepare a specific 1,200-ft long by 100-ft wide section of the riverbed for tunnel boring. Work began in the middle of the Hudson River in 2024 and is progressing eastward toward Manhattan.
Ground stabilization is done within a temporary cofferdam to shield the work area from river currents and enable year-round construction. The contractor periodically moves the cofferdam to enclose a new section of the river. These cofferdam shifts are carefully timed to comply with environmental requirements.
The change order extends the original work area approximately 265 ft toward Manhattan and adds additional activities to address piles remaining in the riverbed from the demolition of Pier 68.
Key work elements include:
• Extending the temporary cofferdam in the Hudson River approximately 265 ft further east toward Manhattan.
• Performing a riverbed survey to locate submerged piles in the riverbed.
• Removing submerged piles where possible and grouting piles in place when removal is not possible.
• Performing ground improvement to strengthen the riverbed after piles are removed.
Pier 68 was built in the late 1800s as a freight pier for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The pier structure was damaged by a fire in 1964 and subsequently demolished, but many of the wooden piles that supported it remain in the riverbed.
Pier 68’s piles were identified as obstructions that could potentially impact tunnel boring during the Hudson Tunnel Project’s preliminary design phase. During the Hudson River Tunnel Section procurement process, GDC received feedback from multiple potential bidders, including the selected contractor, that affirmed the need to address the presence of these piles before tunnel boring begins.
Weeks Marine removed a small number of piles in 2025 to better understand the work required to prepare this section of the riverbed for tunnel boring. Lessons learned from this test project informed the change order.
After assessing multiple options, GDC concluded that adding this work to the scope of the existing HRGS contract is the most efficient and cost-effective approach. Weeks Marine is already mobilized in the Hudson River, has specialized marine construction expertise, and has direct experience with the work included in the change order from the 2025 test project.
