New York and New Jersey will split their share of the costs needed to cover the long-awaited Gateway Project’s first phase, the governors of the two states announced Tuesday. 

The first phase of the project — which aims to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River between Penn Station and New Jersey — includes a rebuild of the Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River, Govs. Kathy Hochul and Phil Murphy said in a press release. 

New Jersey and New York will each pay $386.2 million to finance the rebuild, with the rest of the funding set to come from the federal government, the release said. 

The two states will also split the local costs for the Hudson Tunnel Project, which is part of the first phase, according to the release. 

That project includes the rehabilitation of an existing Amtrak and NJ Transit tunnel under the Hudson River, as well as the construction of a new tunnel. 

Both states will “aggressively pursue greater federal sources of funding” for the project, the release noted. 

“The Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project is vital to the Northeast corridor, and today’s announcement is a critical step forward in turning this vision into reality,” Hochul said in a statement, adding that the two states were “establishing the framework to get this project over the finish line and… making good on our promise to modernize the state’s transportation infrastructure and create a mass transit system worthy of New Yorkers.”

In his own statement, Murphy called the agreement a “pivotal milestone toward the completion of the most significant transportation project not just in New Jersey, but in the entire United States.” 

“As we proceed with construction of a new tunnel under the Hudson River, we advance one step closer toward a New Jersey that is better connected and better positioned to reap the full economic benefits of our status as a regional crossroads,” he said. 

While the existing tunnel under the Hudson River is aged and deteriorating, political disagreements have delayed the Gateway Project for approximately two decades.

In 2019, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he had met with then-President Donald Trump about providing funding for the project, but Trump’s 2020 budget proposal did not include financing for it. 

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has vowed to provide financial support for the project. 

Construction on the Portal North Bridge is already underway, with “major activity” expected to kick off this summer, Hochul’s office said Wednesday. 

Work on the Hudson Tunnel Project, meanwhile, is expected to start in late 2023, according to Hochul’s office.