The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is shifting gears on plans to move its Midtown bus terminal a block west, choosing instead to study what it would take to renovate the existing station.
The bi-state agency ordered a study of its current bus terminal on Thursday to assess the cost of revamping its existing facility, the Associated Press reported. Officials have estimated that moving the terminal a block west would cost $10 billion. Earlier this year the Port Authority dedicated $3.5 billion to creating a new terminal.
Plans to move the nearly 70-year-old terminal were fraught with tension between the agency’s New Jersey and New York representatives. For his part, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has shown the project little love.
The idea of staying put instead of building a new terminal on Port Authority-owned land between West 38th and West 40th streets isn’t a new one. A juror in the bus terminal design competition urged the agency in October to consider rebuilding the new station on top of the existing one. [AP] —Kathryn Brenzel