Architect to present WTC transport plan - Construction & Design

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 14, 2004

Santiago Calatrava--the world-famous architect designing the Port Authority's $2 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub--will publicly present the plan on January 22.

The announcement was made in Gov. George Pataki's state of the state address last week.

"Akin to Midtown's Grand Central Terminal, Santiago Calatrava's design for the new and permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub for Lower Manhattan will serve as an architectural icon for the ages, born of hope and forged of steel and glass. It will create a new grand civic space for Lower Manhattan, carrying natural light down to the platforms and into a place once made dark by evil," said Governor Pataki.

The Port Authority announced last summer that the Downtown Design Partnership, in association with Mr. Calatrava, would design the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The partnership is led by the joint venture of DMJM + Harris and STV Group, Inc.--two of the nation's most successful and respected architectural-engineering firms.

The $2 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub is expected to feature: a glass-and-steel grand point of arrival that will become a major architectural landmark; a permanent PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) terminal that will serve tens of thousands of daily commuters between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan, as well as millions of annual visitors to the World Trade Center Memorial; pedestrian connections that will significantly improve access to PATH, ferries and subway lines across Lower Manhattan. By 2020, these connections are expected to accommodate 250,000 daily commuters and visitors; natural lighting on the PATH platforms approximately 60 feet below street level.

"The Port Authority is committed to rebuilding the World Trade Center site by respecting and honoring those who were lost, providing state-of-the-art transportation facilities, and strengthening the economy of Lower Manhattan and the entire region. Santiago Calatrava's inspiring design will reflect this agency's commitment and will complement the other iconic elements of the World Trade Center site--the Freedom Tower, the Wedge of Light and the Memorial," said Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia.

The permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub is scheduled to begin serving passengers in 2006. It is expected to include underground pedestrian connections to New York City subway stations on the 1/9, N/R and E lines, as well as connections to the 2, 3, 4, 5, J, M, Z, A and C lines at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed Fulton Street Transit Center.

The Port Authority is in the middle of an environmental review process for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which is being developed in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration.

A temporary PATH station opened at the World Trade Center site on November 23, 2003.

Before September 11, 2001, the PATH rapid-transit system of 13 stations carried approximately 260,000 daily passengers between New York and New Jersey. Today, PATH carries approximately 180,000 daily passengers. Prior to September 11, 2001, approximately 67,000 daily passengers boarded PATH at the World Trade Center.