President Joe Biden is set to formally announce a nearly $300 million grant Tuesday to help complete an early phase of the Hudson Tunnel project, but some are still pushing for more to be done.

New York Commissioner and co-chair of the Gateway Development Commission Alicia Glen is among those pressing the federal government to prioritize more funding to complete the long-delayed Gateway Program, which will expand and renovate the Northeast Corridor rail line between New Jersey and New York City.

During an appearance on “Mornings On 1” Tuesday, she said she is grateful to see some investment into the project, but that the New York region is in desperate need for this to be completed.

“This is, in essence, a down payment on what is, I think, the most important infrastructure project in America right now,” Glen said. “And it's actually allowing us to accelerate the schedule, so that we will have shovels in the ground by the end of this year.”

She said that while there is no immediate danger inside the current tunnels – which are over a century old and were badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – she believes the project is needed for an economic surge.

“When I say, ‘we desperately need it,’ it's really about thinking about the long-term health of the economy, not just in our region, but nationally,” Glen said. “The imminent danger is really slowing things down when, obviously, we want to be a pro-growth region. We have more and more riders every day, we want people to get out of their cars. This is a sustainability measure. This is about growth.”

Glen said that the project should never have become a partisan issue, but noted that she believes this is the perfect moment to “get stuff done.”

“I think that New Yorkers are always skeptical about big projects, because they're not necessarily the sexiest projects. But this is going to really make a huge difference to New Yorkers of today and New Yorkers of tomorrow,” she said.