The Gateway Tunnel to add two new train tracks under the Hudson River and the extension of the Second Avenue Subway to bring the Q train to 125th Street are already underway, which the federal funding secured.

The engineering has started for the Interboro Express or IBX, the proposed light rail on existing freight tracks that will connect Queens and Brooklyn. And the switch was flipped on congestion pricing.

Are there any transit project that the Trump administration could touch in the city in any way?


What You Need To Know

  • In his first term, President-elect Donald Trump stalled the environmental assessment for congestion pricing and blocked the Gateway Tunnel, which were able to proceed under President Joe Biden

  • Congestion pricing could be at risk, though if the president orders approvals to be rescinded, it would end up in court

  • The amount of money New York gets as a whole from the federal government could affect how much of the $33 billion gap in the MTA's 2025-29 capital plan Albany lawmakers are willing to fund

Tom Wright, president and CEO of the civic group Regional Plan Association says, not much.

“Things have changed from the first Trump administration,” Wright said. “In particular, a lot of the funding and planning in place. A lot of it is through formulas. So, we don’t expect too much of a change on that. The one big outlier to that, of course, is congestion pricing.”

President-elect Donald Trump said he’d kill congestion pricing in his first week in office but he legally cannot pull back the federal approvals already signed without a court fight. And two judges he appointed have mostly sided with the MTA and Federal Highway Administration (FWHA).

“There are kind of two paths forward to try and stop the program,” Wright said. “One would be through congress to try and pass a law to penalize New York for the program. It’s hard to imagine that would get through such a closely divided congress.”

The other is through New Jersey’s legal challenge.

The Federal Highway Administration submitting their papers Friday to explain a small part of their approval process for congestion pricing.

But the oral arguments are next week when the administration changes.

“I do anticipate different arguments coming from the FWHA and U.S. Department of Transportation based on President-elect Trump based on what he wants to do,” Wright said.

Another way transit could be affected is in how much money New York receives from the federal government.

It could affect how much Albany decides to fund of the $33 billion gap in the MTA’s 2025-29 capital plan.

“We just can’t commit $33 billion in the budget when we don’t know what federal reimbursements [are] going to be,” state Sen. Leroy Comrie, who is chairman of the committee that oversees the MTA, said.

As for the incoming Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former Wisconsin congressman and Fox News commentator, Wright is not too worried.

“I think that Sean Duffy’s hearings showed that he is a pragmatist, a former member of congress that understands the importance of infrastructure investments,” Wright said.

Wright believes he must be familiar with the transportation network of the metropolitan area from working at Fox News, which could influence policy decisions.