If the president wants to be remembered for something that would help make the country great again, how about the proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River, one of the most important and urgently needed transportation infrastructure projects in the country?

The project includes numerous regional rail upgrades, including the construction of a new tunnel and the refurbishment of the existing tunnel. That tunnel, opened in 1910, carries more than 800,000 passenger trips per day between New Jersey and New York.

The total price tag for the tunnel portion of the project runs more than $11 billion. That’s a necessary price to pay for a transit artery at the heart of a region that accounts for more than 10 percent of the national economy. And, according to a new financial plan submitted to the Federal Transit Administration late last month, some $1.4 billion has already been shaved off the original bottom line.