NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (PIX11) — The Gateway Tunnel Project is moving closer to a critical phase, as crews prepare to begin digging the first section of a new rail tunnel beneath Hudson County.
Officials say excavation could begin within months at a construction site along Tonnelle Avenue, where workers on Monday showcased the massive machinery that will carve through bedrock deep below residential neighborhoods.
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At the site known as the “launch box,” crews are assembling two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will eventually be lowered into a deep shaft to begin excavation. The machines, each stretching roughly half the length of a football field, are designed to dig and construct the tunnel simultaneously.
“It’s an erector set that’s lifted down into the launch box,” said James Starace, chief of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission…