One of the largest modern US infrastructure projects will soon burrow toward New York City

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (AP) — When the original train tunnel beneath the Hudson River connecting Manhattan to New Jersey was built more than a century ago, workers toiled with picks and shovels from each side until eventually meeting in the middle.

A new tunnel, one of the largest U.S. mass transit projects in generations and which is expected to cost $16 billion, will take a decidedly modern approach.

Giant drilling machines nearly the length of two football fields armed with cutters harder than diamonds will chew through dense rock. A crew of about 40 will oversee a conveyor system hauling out debris as well as equipment to install the tunnel's curved concrete lining.

“This is a fully automated, underground factory,” said James Starace, chief of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission, a public agency formed by New York and New Jersey that’s undertaking the tunnel project.

Wearing a hardhat and yellow safety vest, Starace stood Tuesday in a trench cut into the hills across the river from New York City. Behind him rose a two-story wall of solid rock where, if all goes as planned, by 2035 trains will speed in and out of the tunnel, easing a bottleneck on the busiest passenger rail corridor in the nation.

The tunnel-boring machines arrived “like Lego pieces” from Germany in nearly 100 different components, said Hamed Nejad, the project's chief engineer. Outside the tunnel's future entrance, sparks flew as a team of welders fused pieces of the massive cutterheads.

Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, said America has grown unaccustomed to building megaprojects at this scale, which has contributed to the cost.

“What’s astonishing about Gateway isn’t the size and scope of the project,” Pearlstein said, “but that it’s taken this long to get only so far.”

The machines are expected to take about a year to grind through the first section in the New Jersey Palisades, which is made of tough volcanic rock, once digging starts later this year, according to Starace. That's about 30 feet of tunnel a day. Other machines will dig under the riverbed.

In full, the new tunnel with two train tracks inside will run almost 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). The original two-tracked tunnel, damaged by saltwater during Superstorm Sandy, will be renovated.

The ambitious project received key approvals and funding under the Biden administration, but nearly ground to a halt a few months ago.

The Trump administration froze funding during the recent federal government shutdown, citing concerns that the project was allocating funds based on diversity, equity and inclusion principles.

As funding neared depletion in February, a federal judge ordered the administration to release the funds. Money has continued flowing as a lawsuit brought by New York and New Jersey against the federal government plays out.

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James Starace, chief of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission, speaks during a media tour of the Palisades Tunnel Project, part of the Gateway Program, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in North Bergen, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A part of the Tunnel Boring Machine is seen at the site of the Palisades Tunnel Project, part of the Gateway Program, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in North Bergen, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Workers operate at the site of the Palisades Tunnel Project, part of the Gateway Program, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in North Bergen, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

James Starace, chief of program delivery for the Gateway Development Commission, speaks during a media tour of the Palisades Tunnel Project, part of the Gateway Program, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in North Bergen, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A worker stands on a crane while securing exposed rock along a wall at the Palisades Tunnel Project, part of the Gateway Program, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in North Bergen, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

CHICAGO (AP) — Two bald eagles hatchlings have been spotted in a nest in a Chicago park in what city officials believe is the raptors' first successful wild breeding in the Windy City in more than a century.

Chicago Park District officials announced last week that bird-watchers observed nesting activity starting in February in Park 597 along the Calumet River on the city's Southeast Side. The first eaglet was spotted in the nest on April 28 and a second was confirmed May 7.

Irene Tostado, a park district spokesperson, said the eaglets appear to be two to three weeks old.

Pat Pearson and her husband, Steve, discovered the first eaglet.

“We started looking around, and lo and behold, this little fuzzy head sticks up with a big beak and we were just ecstatic. Patty actually broke into tears. I started crying," Steve Pearson said. "It was really very touching, because we had this kind of instinct, I think, just the wonder and the awe of seeing these eagles right here in Chicago with a baby. It was really overwhelming.”

Habitat degradation and insecticide contamination of food sources decimated the bald eagle population in the second half of the 20th century, but the bird has made a dramatic comeback over the last 40 years. The bald eagle — the official national bird of the United States — was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007.

They're not an uncommon sight in the Chicago area. The park district said it counted a dozen bald eagles in the restored wetlands of Big Marsh Park in one day in 2018. But Stephen Bell, who oversees Park 597, said his staff hasn't found any record of a successful eaglet hatching in Chicago for more than 100 years.

Park 597 was home to a city water treatment plant until the park district took over the property in 2019 and started restoring the natural habitat. Bell said soil improvements, upgraded vegetation and enhanced habitat for amphibians and reptiles have attracted muskrats, mice and deer, as well as eagles.

“Give Mother Nature a chance and you'd be surprised what she can do with just a little bit of help from like the park district and the city of Chicago," Pat Pearson said. “Neither one of the organizations could have done it themselves, but between the two of them, it's shocking what can happen to land in areas that you think are just absolutely unredeemable.”

Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press photographer Erin Hooley contributed.

A great egret is seen in Park No. 597 on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Supervisor Stephen Bell stands in Park No. 597, where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets, on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A trail closed sign is posted near the site where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Birders Pat and Steve Pearson visit Park No. 597, where a pair of bald eagles are raising two eaglets, on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A bald eaglet raises its head from a nest in Park No. 597 on the south side of Chicago, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)