NJ: Judge rejects N.J. contractor’s bid to halt Gateway Tunnel project contract

A federal judge denied a contractor’s request to pause bidding on one of the Gateway Tunnel project construction contracts until a dispute was resolved.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton denied the request Thursday by the George Harms Construction Co. of Howell and a union steel worker for a temporary restraining order to freeze the bidding process

The suit, which was filed in federal court in Trenton on Nov. 18, sought to prevent the Gateway Development Commission from moving forward with a bid process on a contract to build a 7,540-foot-long viaduct between the new tunnel and the Northeast Corridor line over a freight rail line in New Jersey until a labor agreement issue is resolved.

The commission is the bi-state agency created to oversee and manage construction of the $16 billion Hudson River Tunnel project, rehabilitation of the existing 115-year-old tunnels and construction of two new tracks in New Jersey between the new tunnel and the Secaucus Junction station.

“GDC is pleased with the district court’s decision today denying the plaintiff’s motion,“ said Stephen Sigmund, a commission spokesperson. ”We continue the process for awarding the contract for this critical component of the Hudson Tunnel Project to help deliver the most urgent passenger rail project in the country.”

In her decision, Judge Wigenton said the two plaintiffs have not established they will be irreparably harmed and that an injunction should not be issued.

Harms was among four companies short-listed by the commission in February 2025 and invited to submit proposals for the project, called the New Jersey Surface alignment. That list was in response to a request for qualifications the commission issued in January 2025.

The viaduct would link the new tunnel to two new tracks to be built on the Northeast Corridor line between that structure and Secaucus Junction station.

The issue that prompted the lawsuit is over a project labor agreement that didn’t include a labor union representing Harms’ workforce. The lawsuit contended that PLA barred Harms from the project by deliberately excluding the union representing Harms’ workforce.

The judge disagreed, and wrote they “have not demonstrated that the PLA is exclusionary and prevents them from bidding” on the project.

Harms filed a protest after the commission set a Dec. 10 date as the deadline for its four prequalified bidders to submit bids on the viaduct project. The lawsuit wanted to preserve Harms’ opportunity to bid until the protest is heard by the commission.

In her decision, Judge Wigenton cited the ruling in a similar lawsuit brought by Harms against the Delaware River Joint Bridge Commission in her ruling.

In August 2024 the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in favor of the commission stating it had the authority to use a Project Labor Agreement on the Scudders Falls bridge project that didn’t include the union that represented Harms’ workers.

That ruling also applies to the Gateway Commission, Judge Wigenton said.

“The PLA’s terms are not exclusionary and GDC has not acted in an exclusionary manner to Plaintiffs’ detriment by adopting it,” she wrote. ”The plain language reading of this provision indicates that Building Trade unions will work with the successful bidder regardless of the successful bidder’s union."

She concluded that Harms would not be excluded from bidding because of that.

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