| Work Detail |
New Yorkers are bracing for a minimum eight-year megaproject in Midtown Manhattan after the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved a $10bn plan to tear down and replace the world’s busiest bus terminal.
More than 200,000 local and regional bus trips start and end every weekday at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Midtown Bus Terminal on the corner of 9th Avenue and West 42nd Street, but the shambling complex dating back to 1950 is now considered ugly and dysfunctional.
A new plan devised by a design joint-venture of UK-based Foster + Partners and US-based A Epstein and Sons International, who were appointed in 2022, proposes a $10bn revamp that will increase the terminal’s handling capacity, open up the dark warren inside, and create pleasant streetscapes and parks for locals.
The FTA’s Record of Decision on 4 December was the final piece of the puzzle for the scheme.
New York City Council approved the project in a 45-0 vote last month.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the revamp would provide a “world-class travel experience”.
“New York is constantly innovating and advancing, and this project will help us meet our projected ridership growth while also reducing congestion on our streets and providing an improved travel experience for our commuters,” she said.
Letting the light in
The FTA’s decision fires the starting pistol on a programme of work expected to employ 6,000 workers and last until 2032.
When it’s finished, the facility will have a 2.1-million-sq-ft main terminal, a separate storage and staging building, a new central main entrance, and street-facing retail space.
Inside, a vaulting indoor atrium will provide light and make it easier for commuters to find their way around.
Planners hope locals will notice an easing of bus congestion, as the new terminal will let inter-city buses come inside to pick up and drop off passengers, where now they have to do that on busy surrounding streets.
It will also consolidate storage and staging functions in a single place, thus cutting bus waiting and idling times, and give buses direct access to the Lincoln Tunnel.
Green space downtown
Outside, it will add 3.5 acres of green space by building platforms over the below-grade Dyer Avenue “cut”.
The Port Authority board approved the $271m construction contract for the deck-overs in July, saying the build contract would be awarded to local firm MLJ Contracting, with a construction management contract set to go to Aecom Tishman.
Work is expected to start with a temporary terminal on adjacent Port Authority land so contractors can start demolishing the old complex.
The temporary terminal is planned for completion in 2028.
The Port Authority will fund the project from its own capital, federal loans, and by selling terminal-related commercial development rights.
Background
The terminal opened in 1950, after the mayor of New York City requested the Port Authority to consolidate eight separate, smaller bus terminals in Midtown Manhattan to relieve street congestion.
The Port Authority expanded the terminal’s capacity in 1963 by adding three new levels of parking for 1,000 cars.
In 1981, the Port Authority expanded the bus terminal’s capacity by 50% with a new North Wing extension to 42nd Street. The diagonal girder façade went up then, as well.
The terminal is the country’s biggest bus terminal. |
