Port Authority Bus Terminal Plan Could See Vote This Week
NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A plan to replace New York City's aging and congested bus terminal could move forward this week.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is expected to consider a proposal at its monthly board meeting on Thursday.
Even if the proposal submitted by board members is adopted, it could still take nearly another year for the agency to decide on a design for a new terminal.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal at Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street is more than 50 years old and handles more than 200,000 people per day. It's considered outdated and ill-suited to handle expected increases in traffic in coming years.
"We expect ridership to double by 2040 at the bus terminal, from 120,000 people each way to 240,000," New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said earlier this month. "It's not going to work in the location it's at."
Last month, a working group within the Port Authority presented a plan but a sharply divided board didn't put it to a vote.
"This is at least an 18-month or two-year process already, and at some point we've got to find a way to move this project forward," board chairman John Degnan said last month.
The last major bus terminal upgrade was in 1979 – an era when the terminal and the area around it comprised a seedy district known for crime, prostitution and vagrancy.
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