A new front in the battle between the Trump administration and New York’s transportation agencies opened up in April, when the Department of Transportation announced that, together with Amtrak, it would be taking over the $7 billion project to redevelop Penn Station. The move sidelined New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which was leading the project. In an announcement, the department said that the move would save taxpayers approximately $120 million, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that “the days of reckless spending and blank checks are over.”
Most of the reporting on the change has focused on the politics, but the announcement was coupled with a new plan for delivery: the Trump administration aims to use a Public-Private Partnership (P3) to deliver the redevelopment project.
