NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s main bus terminal, long mocked for leaking from the ceiling, dirty bathrooms and frequent delays, could undergo a major renovation.
The New York and New Jersey Port Authority released a proposal on Thursday to rebuild and expand the bus terminal in midtown Manhattan.
“Everyone knows the bus terminal. Very few have anything good to say about it, ”said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “It is past time to replace this building.”
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 span several blocks would be removed and a storage building would be constructed to keep the buses empty off the streets.
Construction could start in 2024, finish in 2031 and cost up to $ 10 billion, said the Port Authority. About $ 3 billion would come from the sale of construction rights to four commercial buildings in the area, including one at the top of the terminal. It would also require local and federal funding.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal opened in 1950 on Eighth Avenue between 40 and 42, near Times Square.
A statue of Ralph Kramden, the fictional bus driver for “The Honeymooners”, is outside his main entrance. It also provided a suitable setting for “Midnight Cowboy”, the 1969 film that lit up the seedy New York underworld.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the terminal served more than 250,000 passenger trips on weekdays, many of them leaving New Jersey. A study commissioned by the Port Authority projected that the number would increase to more than 330,000 by 2040.
Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, a think tank on urban planning, called the new plan “a creative approach to a complicated 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 for our region,” he said. “The prosperity of our three-state area will depend on our ability to provide access across the region and connect people to jobs.”
Authorities have debated for years the replacement or renovation of the bus terminal, the busiest in the country. But political disputes between legislators and Port Authority officials in both states left the project paralyzed while other major infrastructure projects moved forward, including a new World Trade Center transit center and multi-billion dollar renovations at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark Liberty airports.
The bus terminal was not included in the Port Authority’s 10-year capital plan in 2014, increasing the ire of New Jersey travelers and lawmakers.
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Associated Press editor Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.