Sep 12 2005
CIOB is reporting that after last Tuesday’s ground-breaking ceremony at the former World Trade Centre site, work has today commenced on the new $2 billion PATH station.
The Port Authority Trans-Hudson link is vital to more than 40,000 New Jersey residents who commute to New York City and has been operating through a temporary station since November 2003, the original having been destroyed in the terrorist attacks on 11th September 2001.
In August 2003, a team led by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was selected to design the new transportation hub, and plans were unveiled in January of last year. Inspired by Calatrava’s vision of a child releasing a bird into the sky, the glass and steel roof, spreading like wings rising over 140 feet above the terminal plaza, will provide a striking gateway to the redeveloped area on the former World Trade Centre site.
It is thought the project will provide more than $650 million in wages and salaries that will greatly help the downtown area. The transportation hub will be fully operational in 2010, and by 2020 is expected to serve 250,000 commuters and visitors every day, serving as it will as a link not only between New Jersey and New York, but also to other transport systems such as subway lines, ferry terminals and eventually John F. Kennedy airport.
The reconstruction of the World Trade Centre transit hub will no doubt bolster the development of the multi-billion dollar Lower Manhattan transportation infrastructure which was created in 2003.
Officials say they plan ground-breakings within the next six months at the site of both the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower and a memorial to the victims of September 11th 2001's terrorist attacks.