Gov. Hochul, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy, and a collection of Port Authority officials and local elected officials gathered Thursday to mark the beginning of construction of a long-awaited upgrade to Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.
“Seventy-five years ago, the Port Authority Bus Terminal opened its doors,” Hochul told reporters Thursday in a lot next to Dyer Ave.
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” Hochul added, referring to the terminal’s rundown appearance.
“For many, this bus station is their first impression of New York City,” Hochul continued. “We can do better — we must do better.”
Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — which owns and operates the terminal — was more direct.
“Let’s be blunt,” he said. “It’s undersized, obsolete, structurally and architecturally archaic.
“It has become a notorious eyesore that fails the commuters who use it and fails the community that surrounds it.”
Thursday marked the beginning of the first phase of the project — the so-called “decking over” of a portion of Dyer Ave., which runs in a cut beneath Hell’s Kitchen and connects the Lincoln Tunnel to the rest of the street grid.
Once covered, the space above Dyer Ave. will serve as a staging ground for buses during the next phases of construction — and will ultimately be turned into park space once work on the new bus terminal is complete.
The avenue will be covered between W. 37th and W. 38th Sts. as well as between W. 38th and W. 39th Sts.
When completed, the new terminal is expected to be a 2.1 million-square foot facility complete with retail and a spacious atrium. The project also includes new bus ramps leading from the terminal directly to the Lincoln Tunnel, so that buses can travel to and from New Jersey without having to travel on surface streets.
The design is also intended to serve the intercity buses that currently make curbside pickups outside the terminal, removing idling buses from neighborhood streets.
The $10 billion project will be spread out across two Port Authority capital plans. Construction is expected to take 10 years.
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