Governor Andrew Cuomo met with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, asking for federal help to build the Gateway Tunnel.
“I think it's fair to say that the meeting was a positive meeting. I think it's fair to say that the president was receptive to what we were talking about and the president said that he wanted to take the next steps to find a way forward,” Governor Cuomo said.
The Gateway Tunnel would connect New York and New Jersey and would replace two 100-year-old tunnels that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Cuomo said Trump understood the problem, but admits no federal money was offered at the meeting.
“The president was rightly concerned with the question of how we would do this. The president is skeptical of government construction contracts. I am skeptical of government construction contracts,” Cuomo said.
The governor said he’d like to model construction of the tunnel on the way the new Tappan Zee Bridge was build. He said that includes bidding out the project to get the best price and the fastest construction.
The price tag for the tunnel has been set at $13 billion, but Cuomo said that’s the estimate of Amtrak. He said if the state and federal government are going to pay, they want to make sure the cost doesn’t grow significantly.
“So it was a very productive conversation and we'll be following up for next steps,” Cuomo said.
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