Debate Surrounds Plans For Port Authority Bus Terminal's Replacement
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The future remains uncertain for one of Manhattan's most loathed landmarks, the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
The terminal will soon be obsolete, but is a replacement on the way?
As CBS2's Sonia Rincon reported, the need for a new Port Authority Bus Terminal isn't in question. The 65-year-old building can barely handle all the commuter bus traffic that comes through the Lincoln Tunnel.
"I think we need a new bus terminal, and I've made that clear to the Port Authority commissioners, and it's one of our capital program priorities," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said.
There has been some debate about where to put the terminal.
"I don't have an opinion about where it should be. I think experts should determine that and what will best serve the commuting public who use buses," Christie said.
The proposed location is right behind the existing terminal, but there's also been talk among the Port Authority commissioners of building a transit hub in New Jersey where commuters would be diverted to trains to the city.
That would mean another future for the valuable Midtown real estate.
With PATH and NJ Transit already at capacity and no plan to extend subway service across the Hudson, State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg said the terminal belongs in New York.
"Clearly what we need to do is build a new Port Authority Bus Terminal on the West Side of Manhattan with the 50 percent increased capacity needed to meet anticipated demand in 2040," she said.
Commuters agreed.
"That's too much hassle. I'd rather go on the bus and that's it, one time," Crucita Flores said.
Despite tunnel traffic, most would prefer to keep taking the bus to New York.
"Yeah I like the location because from here to the subway it's quick, like two minutes, then I can go everywhere here in Manhattan," Elsa Arellano said.
The board recently announced a competition to re-design a new terminal.
Participants in the proposed design competition would be encouraged to suggest alternative sites for a different Port Authority Bus Terminal, should their analysis determine that the proposed site west of 9th Ave is not optimal," Port Authority Chairman, John Dengan said.
The redesign promises to incorporate public opinion. Right now on its website, the Port Authority has surveys for commuters and for those who live and work in the busy part of midtown.