PATH World Trade Center station design set to soar - Transit Update - Brief Article

Railway Age, Feb, 2004

On Jan. 22, nearly two months after opening the Port Authority Trans-Hudson's $566 million temporary World Trade Center station, architect Santiago Calatrava's permanent station design was unveiled (RA, January p. 24). The striking plans call for a glass roof--located above a freestanding grand pavilion with fibbed cathedral-like arches--to be opened each year on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Glass-and-steel "wings" will soar up to 150 feet, and natural light will reach rail platforms 60 feet below street level. The design complements Studio Daniel Libeskind's master plan for the site, which includes the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower and the memorial "Reflecting Absence."

"This is the Port Authority (of New York & New Jersey)'s gift to New York City," said Calatrava, who also has designed the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Valencia Science Center in Spain.

PANY/NJ selected the Downtown Design Partnership, in association with Calatrava, to design the WTC Transportation Hub last summer. The partnership is led by the joint venture of DMJM Harris and STV Group, Inc.

The $2 billion WTC hub will include a permanent PATH terminal; seamless pedestrian connections providing access to the World Financial Center, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed Fulton Street Transit Center, PATH, ferries, and 12 New York City Transit subway lines; and increased open space in the "Wedge of Light Plaza" and additional access from Church Street to the Memorial District. According to PANY/NJ, it's also designed to accommodate an AirTrain station to JFK International Airport.

The station is slated to begin service by year-end 2006 with a completion date in 2009.