New York, NY —

Part of Mayor Bloomberg's plan to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution is to support the construction of a second passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson River. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

For the thousands of New Jersey Transit users from both states, a second tunnel could not come soon enough. Tens of thousands of commuters are regularly delayed because the sole trans-Hudson tunnel is already at maximum capacity, and one stuck train can put the whole network out of business.

Construction on the $7 billion tunnel is slated to begin in 2009 and be completed by 2016. The Port Authority has committed $2 billion and the state of New Jersey has pledged $500 million. Mayor Bloomberg's proposed congestion fee for commuters could help defray some of the project's costs. Now, with the city's backing, the case for matching federal money for the mega-project will be even stronger.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.