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NEW YORK (AP) – New York’s main bus terminal, long ridiculed for its leaky ceilings, dirty bathrooms and frequent delays, could undergo a major overhaul.
Port authorities in New York and New Jersey on Thursday unveiled a proposal to rebuild and expand the ailing downtown Manhattan bus terminal.
“Everyone knows the bus terminal. Very few have anything good to say about it, ”said Harbor Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “It is high time this building was replaced.”
The new station would be built on top of the existing one, with elegant glass-walled entrances and additional infrastructure to accommodate more buses. Ramps that stretch for several blocks would be relocated and a storage building would be built to prevent empty buses from entering the streets.
Construction could start in 2024, end in 2031 and cost as much as $ 10 billion, the port authority said. About $ 3 billion would come from the sale of the construction rights for four commercial buildings in the area, including one atop the terminal. It would also require local and federal funding.
The Port Authority bus terminal opened in 1950 on Eighth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets near Times Square.
A statue of Ralph Kramden, the fictional bus driver from “The Honeymooners”, stands in front of its main entrance. It also provided a fitting backdrop for “Midnight Cowboy,” the 1969 film that lit up New York’s seedy underworld.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the terminal handled more than 250,000 weekday passenger trips, many of which departed from New Jersey. A study commissioned by the port authority predicted that number would rise to more than 330,000 by 2040.
Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, a town planning think tank, called the new plan “a creative approach to a complex problem.”
“Repairing the Port Authority’s bus terminal for the 260,000 people who depend on it every day of the week is one of the highest infrastructure priorities in our region,” he said. “The prosperity of our tri-state region will depend on our ability to provide access across the region and connect people to jobs.”
Officials have debated replacing or overhauling the bus station, the country’s busiest, for years. But political wrangling between lawmakers and port authority officials in both states left the project at a standstill as other large infrastructure projects progressed, including a new World Trade Center transit hub and makeovers to several. billion dollars from LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty airports.
The bus terminal was not included in the port authority’s 10-year capital plan in 2014, angering commuters and New Jersey lawmakers.
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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
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