Port Authority of New York and New Jersey board member Kenneth Lipper’s recent call for a new bus terminal may be too little too late.
This comes after a past announcement in June 2013 that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will hire a consultant to conduct a study to do the same. This study is in the process of looking into options for terminal improvements or possible replacement for the current PANYNJ Bus Terminal between 40th and 42nd Street and 8th and 9th avenues.
This facility was constructed and went into beneficial use for transit riders 64 years ago. The last major improvements took place some time during the 1970s.
How do you construct any significant modifications to the existing bus terminal while at the same time maintaining day-to-day service for the 225,000 daily customers who use this facility?
Imagine the chaos of trying to build a new facility at the same location! It would be like trying to perform heart surgery on a patient who is jogging.
A more realistic solution is to construct a new facility at a new site from the ground up.
Everyone can agree that the existing 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal is antiquated. It lacks sufficient capacity to deal with current and future needs.
Upon completion of their morning a.m. rush hour trips, hundreds of buses have to dead head back to New Jersey for midday storage.
They make another return trip in the afternoon to New York City for outbound evening service. Eliminating dead heading of buses would open up additional capacity for the already overcrowded Lincoln Tunnel.
Costs could easily start at several hundred million for renovation and upgrading of the existing facility.
Up to a billion or more may be needed if they build a new facility at the same or new location on the west side in midtown Manhattan.
Any facility modifications or construction of a new facility may be years if not decades away from completion. There is so much more work to be done after completion of any planning study.
Many of the estimated costs for similar proposed transportation projects are based upon planning feasibility studies and environmental documents with little design and engineering efforts necessary to validate any actual construction costs. They have to be refined as projects progress beyond the planning and environmental phases into real and final design efforts.
Value engineering, which is a process used to reduce costs will be used during the final design phase. Unfortunately, history has shown that estimated costs for construction usually trend upwards as projects mature toward 100 percent final design.
Progression of final design refines the detailed scope of work necessary to support construction. The anticipated final potential cost for many of these projects will never be known until completion.
Costs will be further refined by the awarding of construction contracts followed by any unforeseen site conditions and change orders to the base contracts during the course of construction.
History has told us that construction of most major new transportation system upgrade or new expansion projects has taken decades until completion of feasibility studies, environmental reviews, planning, design, engineering, real estate acquisition, permits, procurements, construction, budgeting, identifying and securing funding to pay for all of the above.
The first phase of the Patrick Moynihan Amtrak Penn Station Farley Building project is under way.
This will extend the existing Penn Station Eighth Avenue west concourse from track 13 to track 1. In addition, two entrances for Amtrak commuters will be created at 31st and 33rd Streets along with train platform expansions, stairs and escalators at a cost under $300 million.
In the early 1990s, total project cost was estimated to be $350 million. Politicians promised a beneficial use date around 2000. Fast forward to 2013 and the new overall project cost exceeds $1.5 billion.
How disappointing that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey failed to coordinate with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York State, New York City and Amtrak.
They missed potential opportunities to become a part of the new Hudson Yards project. New York City officials and developers broke ground last year for the new Hudson Yards project.
At the same time, Amtrak is proceeding with its own Farley Building project to support improvements to Penn Station.
The Hudson Yards project will be built over the Long Island Rail Road Westside storage yard between 10th and 12th avenues. Relocating the current PANYNJ 42nd Street Bus Terminal to this facility to the Hudson Yards site could have provided the ideal solution.
It would have the ability to expand capacity for new bus services. Hundreds of buses could lay over in Manhattan saving the costs of both fuel and deadheading to and from New Jersey.
My neighbors in Great Neck along with New Hyde Park, Herricks, Williston Park, Garden City, Manhasset, Roslyn and other communities in both Nassau and Suffolk County along with our friends in Queens who use public transportation would benefit by this investment.
Intermodal connections would have become available for the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, #1,2,3,7,A,E & C subways, ferry services at Pier 79 on West 38th Street along with the 34th Street Bus Rapid Transit route and other local bus services.
Long term, there is also the possibility of future connections with Metro North.
This is based upon implementation of potential results from an ongoing study looking into the feasibility of providing Metro North direct access to Penn Station. These new services could use existing Amtrak Empire Hudson Line connections via the Bronx and Manhattan Westside or Bronx/Queens via the Hellgate Bridge.
Relocation of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to this new location would also compliment the multi-billion dollar ongoing Farley Buiding project. This project will convert the old Post Office to a new Amtrak Passenger Station as part of the Penn Station complex.
Reopening the old Hilton passageway (which was abandoned in the early 1970s), could provide a direct underground connection from the Long Island Rail Road at 7th Avenue to Herald Square at Broadway.
This provides easy access to the B,D,F,M, R, N and Q subway lines along with PATH.
Imagine the possibilities of connecting ferry services, New Jersey Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, PATH, 14 subway lines and possibly Metro North (at a later date) with all the bus routes currently operating out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Virtually all the connections would be underground and easily walkable within minutes. With climate controlled facilities, passengers would be warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
No one would exposed to either rain, wind or snow. This would have been the greatest intermodal transportation facility moving more riders utilizing public transportation than any in America!
Larry Penner
Great Neck
