Thomas Prendergast was installed Thursday as the new CEO and president of the Gateway Development Commission.
Prendergast, a New York resident and former head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will oversee the $16 billion project to build a new two-rail tunnel between North Jersey and Manhattan beneath the Hudson River and then repair the existing, century-old tunnel that is failing from age and extensive saltwater damage from Superstorm Sandy.
Prendergast replaces New Jersey native Kris Kolluri, who led the Gateway commission from its infancy in 2022 and was recently tapped to lead NJ Transit during Gov. Phil Murphy’s last year in office.
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“Gateway is something the region knows for a long time needs to get done,” Prendergast said. “It’s an opportunity I could not pass up.”
Leading the GDC requires some delicate tightrope-walking, because the role answers to a board of commissioners from three separate interests: New York, New Jersey and Amtrak.
Tony Coscia, vice chair of the commission and board chair of Amtrak, said Prendergast is most focused on the “true stakeholder.”
“It’s the people who rely on this system every day to get to work, to get home, all those things, and it’s those people whose lives are affected by having a mobility system that does something for the quality of life in this region and the ability to economically thrive in this region,” Coscia said.
“That’s the stakeholder, that’s his shareholder, that’s his audience, that’s who he has to please,” Coscia said.
Prendergast’s arrival also coincides with the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
During Trump’s first term, Democrats accused his administration of delaying this project — which is considered by some to be the most urgent and important infrastructure program in the country — but the effort made up ground when President Joe Biden took office.
Biden’s administration approved about $11.6 billion in federal funds for the project, or about 70% of the total cost, but it will now be the federal agencies under Trump’s purview that will administer oversight of the GDC.
Prendergast once headed the MTA, Long Island Rail Road
In addition to leading the MTA, Prendergast’s tenure at the largest public transportation agency in North America included jobs heading the Long Island Railroad and New York City Transit, which oversees the sprawling network of subways, buses and paratransit services.
Before that, Prendergast was the CEO of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, where he helped prepare the network for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Most recently, he was executive president and New York metro chief executive at the consulting firm AECOM.
Prendergast is originally from Chicago but has lived along the Northeast Corridor, including in Washington and Middlesex County, where he used to commute on NJ Transit.
He joins the GDC as it has “transformed from a planning organization to an executing organization,” a phrase used by the commission’s CFO, Patrick McCoy, last month to describe the agency’s rapid progress into construction in the last year.
As of December, seven of nine procurement packages are under construction or awaiting bids, with tunnel boring expected to start next year. The Tonnelle Avenue project to build the highway over the area where tracks will go is expected to be completed in October. That will be the launch site for the tunnel boring machines.
In addition to the 40 employees at the GDC, Prendergast will oversee MPA Delivery Partners, the triventure firm chosen as the project delivery partner to lead design, engineering and construction management.
Prendergast’s annual compensation will be $395,000, the same as his predecessor’s.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New CEO for Gateway project to build Hudson River rail tunnel