A project to replace the Midtown Bus Terminal in Manhattan received federal and city approvals, moving forward on a $10 billion rebuild of the world’s largest and busiest bus terminal.
Replacing the current dilapidated 74-year-old facility, the project approved by the Federal Transit Administration on Dec. 4 includes a 2.1-million-square-foot main terminal, a storage facility for buses and staging facilities and ramps connected directly to the Lincoln Tunnel. The proposal also calls for two additional support structures on New York and NJ Port Authority property to reduce bus congestion on the street and create 3.5 acres of community green space.
“The Midtown Bus Terminal is a crucial transportation hub for New York, serving more than 250,000 passenger trips on a busy weekday alone, and we are committed to” the terminal’s transformation, he said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement, adding that the project “will help us achieve our projected growth in ridership.”
The agency’s record of decision follows the signing in September of the project’s final environmental impact statement. The City Council unanimously approved the project in November. Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, said in a statement that it now has all the necessary permits to move forward with construction.
Expected to create 6,000 union construction jobs, the phased project calls for the bus storage facility to be built first, to serve as a temporary terminal while the existing terminal is demolished and rebuilt . The temporary terminal and new ramps are expected to be completed by 2028 and the new main terminal will be completed by 2032.
In July, the Port Authority of New York and the New Jersey Board of Commissioners authorized the first two contracts to build a $271 million Dyer Avenue deck to allow bus service to continue during construction of the new west side terminal. Construction on the decks is expected to begin early next year as the agency’s construction procurement for the rest of the project moves forward.
Equity financing from the Port Authority is expected to cover a significant portion of the project’s cost, in addition to federal loans, development rights and payments in lieu of taxes approved by the city for several new commercial developments potential, including above the new bus terminal.
The new facility will improve bus service between New York and New Jersey and includes community benefits, such as additional capacity to allow curbside intercity buses that currently pick up and drop off on the streets of the city surrounding the bus terminal can move their operations inland. , minimizing idling and running of buses on local city streets and reducing congestion in and out of the Lincoln Tunnel.
The net-zero emissions project will host an all-electric bus fleet and include sustainability and resilience measures such as LEED certification and on-site renewable energy clean construction, zoned heating and cooling systems, and recovery technology and heat reuse Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress called the planned center “built for the future: state-of-the-art, sustainable, LEED-certified and future-ready.”
