[NYguy]

https://www.nj.com/news/2021/06/construc...ty-bus-terminal-could-start-in-2024.html

Construction on new Port Authority bus terminal could start in 2024


By Larry Higgs
June 24, 2021

More details emerged about plans to build new Port Authority bus terminal to replace the current outmoded Midtown Manhattan facility emerged during the first day of public hearings on Wednesday, with a schedule to start construction as early as 2024.

“It will take eight years to build, starting in 2024 with a temporary bus terminal and ramps,” said Graham Trelstad, a consultant on the project for WSP. “It will open in 2028 and construction will begin in the main terminal.”

That phase of the project will take another four years and plans call for a permanent bus terminal to open in 2031, he said. In addition, the temporary bus terminal will be converted to its permanent use as a terminal to get interstate buses off city streets that now make curbside passenger pick up, and for bus storage.

Core structures for four proposed towers to be built above the bus terminal would be included in the construction to be built out later, a technique the Port Authority used building the remaining World Trade Center towers after Tower One was built.

Three would be commercial towers and one would built for residential and mixed use.

The public hearings are being held to satisfy Environmental Impact Statement requirements of the Federal Transit Administration, which could lead to federal funding for the bus terminal. A second Zoom public hearing will be held on Thursday and emailed and written comments will be taken on the project website until July 19.

Air quality and pollution remains a concern, both from the new terminal and from existing Lincoln Tunnel traffic gridlocked on 9th and 10th Avenues, she said. Neighbors also fear air pollution will get worse from traffic delayed during the project.

“The Port Authority should address this pollution, which has been here for the past 20 years and has become worse since COVID,” Berthet said. “They are a huge burden on (the) community’s quality of life.”

While the new terminal added interstate buses that now pick up on city streets, jitneys aren’t included in the new terminal and spill into neighborhood streets, she said.

“It is critical they have access (to the terminal),” Berthet said.

Finally she said the community board would like the height and mass of a proposed 60- to 70-story tower reduced.

Of course they would.

No property would have to be condemned for the new terminal, answering a major concern from residential and business neighbors. It would provide five floors for buses and 160 passenger gates.

The new terminal design also includes infrastructure for future construction of four high-rise towers over portions of the new bus terminal that could help fund it, through sale of air rights and payments in lieu of taxes shared by the city with the authority. Federal funding also could be sought.