Plans detailed for NYC bus terminal’s $10 billion makeover
New York’s iconic bus terminal, often held up as a forlorn reminder of the seedier elements of the city’s past, could be transformed into a state-of-the-art facility by 2031 under plans detailed Thursday.
It could cost as much as $10 billion to overhaul the 72-year-old Port Authority Bus Terminal, with plans for a new terminal on the site of the existing one. The design calls for an adjacent staging and storage area for buses when they aren’t in use, and for this staging area to be used to continue transit operations while the old terminal is demolished in stages.
About 3.5 acres of public green space would eventually cover up an enclosed ramp system connecting the terminal to the Lincoln Tunnel.
About $3 billion for the bus terminal project will come from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s capital budget, said Richard Cotton, the authority’s executive director. The authority will seek federal dollars, and it also plans to sell the air rights to four proposed towers to help pay for the new terminal. Cotton added that the project will be built on Port Authority land and won’t require the taking of private property.