New York and New Jersey to move forward with plans for a new midtown bus terminal

[bobtehpanda]

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2019/05/23/new-york-and-new-jersey-to-move-forward-with-plans-for-a-new-midtown-bus-terminal-1027716

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New York and New Jersey are moving forward with plans to replace the world’s busiest bus terminal, and have homed in on three options for the new facility, according to information obtained by POLITICO.

One would have the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey — which runs the bus terminal — rebuild it in place, while having buses continue to service the existing terminal during construction. In the second scenario, the Port Authority would convert the Jacob Javits Center’s lower level into an underground bus terminal. The third and final option is to relocate longer-haul intercity bus operations to the lower level of Javits, thereby freeing up capacity in the existing bus terminal for its primary customers: New Jersey commuters. That option allows for the terminal’s renovation, and obviates the need to rebuild it from scratch.

The Port Authority lays out its plans for the existing Eighth Avenue bus terminal — which it says is the world’s busiest — in a 180-page document acquired by POLITICO. That April 30 “scoping document,” which can be viewed here, kicks off the formal environmental review process for the project, which the Port expects to cost many billions of dollars and finish by 2030. The final scoping document is expected to be released soon.

A Port Authority spokesperson wouldn’t comment for this article.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal’s ragged appearance and its unglamorous mode of transportation belie its importance to the New York economy.

New Jerseyans comprise 12 percent of Manhattan's workforce. On a busy weekday, the bus terminal provides about “23 percent of trans-Hudson trips entering or exiting the central business district,” the document says.

The bus terminal is already over capacity. The Port and other planners project its ridership numbers will only increase in the coming decades.

New York elected officials have, however, questioned the notion of significantly enlarging a bus terminal in a midtown neighborhood that’s become more residential over time, and have even suggested the Port build some sort of new bus terminal in New Jersey instead.

New Jersey officials recoil at that notion. In 2017, they successfully secured $3 billion in Port Authority capital funding for the rebuilding of the bus terminal, though that money is only expected to be a down payment.

The scoping document does not specify how much the Port expects the various bus terminal options to cost, but it does note that the Port intends to seek federal funding and says it will try to monetize its real estate assets in the neighborhood.

A prior proposal to build a temporary bus terminal west of the existing facility while rebuilding the Eighth Avenue terminal in place was estimated to cost some $10 billion.

On a busy weekday, the bus terminal provides some 260,000 passenger trips a day. That’s expected to grow significantly in the coming decades — by 2040, some forecast that number to rise to nearly 340,000.

“If the [bus terminal] is not replaced, the [Port Authority Bus Terminal] would not be able to accommodate forecasted bus demand which would worsen conditions on area roadways leading to and from the [the terminal],” the scoping document reads. “In addition, it could result in a shift to auto, creating more congested conditions on the approach roadways, Hudson River crossings and Manhattan streets.”

 

[BreeddekalbL]

If you bounce bus terminal to NJ that would have been insane 

[46Dover]

I’d like to see how they pull this off.  I’d probably be retired long after it’s finished