Hudson tunnel: Is oft-maligned agency up to the challenge?
Top Port Authority officials said this week they are confident they can oversee the construction of the tunnel, part of what's being called the Gateway project, even as other large projects face delays and overruns and as the agency remains a focus of criminal investigations and fallout from the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.
The powerful bistate agency — the operator of bridges and tunnels in a city hugely reliant on them; three of the nation's busiest airports and its busiest bus terminal; a crucial seaport; and the World Trade Center — also presumably will soon undergo a sea change in leadership, with a recently created CEO position replacing the current executive director and deputy executive director.
Add to that a proposed new $10 billion bus terminal in New York City and the Gateway project, which includes the tunnel and a major expansion of Penn Station, and it's a full plate for an agency whose public profile has taken a hit.
A newly created development corporation within the Port Authority will coordinate funding and execution of the tunnel project, in concert with the states of New York and New Jersey, Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Port Authority was criticized for steep bridge and tunnel toll increases four years ago and called "challenged and dysfunctional" in an auditor's report in 2012 that criticized the agency for poor planning, lack of cost controls and inadequate transparency.