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Get the construction equipment ready for the $8.7 billion Mass Transit Tunnel (MTT) project in New York and New Jersey. The Federal Transit Administration recently completed its environmental review process and approved preliminary designs, clearing the way for federal funds to be committed and construction to begin on the project later this year.

Local financing totaling $5.7 billion already has been committed for the tunnel — the centerpiece of the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project — including $3 billion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The state of New Jersey is seeking a federal funding commitment from the new Administration.

Also known as the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, the MTT would double commuter-rail capacity between New Jersey and New York, and help improve rail service in New Jersey. The existing century-old commuter-rail tunnel under the Hudson River has only two tracks that are taxed during rush hours by New Jersey Transit and Amtrak trains. The MTT would accommodate 48 trains per hour instead of the current 23 trains.

The ARC project calls for constructing two side-by-side commuter-rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River; expanding New York Penn Station under 34th Street in Manhattan to connect the facility with Penn Station; building an equipment maintenance and storage yard in Kearny, N.J.; and creating a rail loop at Secaucus Junction.

PANYNJ and the state of New Jersey plan to let bids for about $600 million worth of MTT design and construction contracts shortly after a federal funding agreement is reached. Several other contracts totaling about $3 billion will be released for bidding soon after construction begins.

"New York and New Jersey's cooperative efforts have brought the ARC mass-transit rail tunnel closer to construction," said PANYNJ Executive Director Christopher Ward in a prepared statement. "The federal government's approval will help … ease a major rail bottleneck.”

The Partnership — a Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc./STV Inc./DMJM Harris Inc. joint venture — is developing a final design for the project, which is slated for completion in 2017.