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Design
to Feature Glass-and-Steel Grand Point of Arrival,
Natural Lighting on PATH Platforms
Santiago Calatrava – the
world-famous architect designing the Port Authority’s
World Trade Center Transportation Hub – will publicly
present the design on January 22 in New York City, New
York Governor George E. Pataki and New Jersey Governor
James E. McGreevey announced today. The Port Authority
announced last summer that the Downtown Design
Partnership, in association with Mr. Calatrava, would
design the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The
partnership is led by the joint venture of DMJM + Harris
and STV Group, Inc. – two of the nation’s most
successful and respected architectural-engineering
firms.
The $2 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub is
expected to feature:
- A spectacular glass-and-steel Grand Point of
Arrival that will become a major architectural
landmark.
- A permanent PATH
(Port Authority Trans-Hudson) terminal that will
serve tens of thousands of daily commuters between
New Jersey and Lower Manhattan, as well as millions
of annual visitors to the World Trade Center
Memorial.
- Pedestrian
connections that will significantly improve access
to PATH, ferries and subway lines across Lower
Manhattan. By 2020, these connections are expected
to accommodate 250,000 daily commuters and visitors.
- Natural lighting on
the PATH platforms approximately 60 feet below
street level.
Governor
Pataki said, “Akin to Midtown’s Grand Central
Terminal, Santiago Calatrava’s design for the new
and permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub
for Lower Manhattan will serve as an architectural
icon for the ages, born of hope and forged of steel
and glass. It will create a new grand civic space for
Lower Manhattan, carrying natural light down to the
platforms and into a place once made dark by evil.”
Governor McGreevey said, “The Port Authority’s
World Trade Center Transportation Hub, designed by
Santiago Calatrava, will significantly benefit the
tens of thousands of New Jersey residents who work in
Lower Manhattan – easing their commute to Wall
Street, the World Financial Center and subway
connections. This state-of-the-art transportation
system also will enable millions of visitors to the
World Trade Center Memorial to pay their respects to
the heroes of September 11, 2001.”
Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, “The
Port Authority is committed to rebuilding the World
Trade Center site by respecting and honoring those who
were lost, providing state-of-the-art transportation
facilities, and strengthening the economy of Lower
Manhattan and the entire region. Santiago Calatrava’s
inspiring design will reflect this agency’s
commitment and will complement the other iconic
elements of the World Trade Center site – the
Freedom Tower, the Wedge of Light and the Memorial.”
Port Authority Vice Chairman Charles A. Gargano said,
“A world-class mass-transportation system is
essential for the continued economic recovery of Lower
Manhattan. With one-third of all the people who work
in Lower Manhattan coming from New Jersey and millions
of square feet of downtown office space up for renewal
in the next few years, we must ensure that Lower
Manhattan’s infrastructure has the ability to
accommodate a revitalized neighborhood.”
Port Authority Executive Director Joseph J. Seymour
said, “The World Trade Center Transportation Hub
will rival Grand Central Terminal as an architectural
achievement and as an economic catalyst. For the first
time in a century, Lower Manhattan’s knotted
mass-transit network will be untangled. Santiago
Calatrava’s work, which will be presented months
ahead of schedule, will strike the appropriate balance
between beauty and function, comfortably and
conveniently meeting the needs of Lower Manhattan
residents, commuters and visitors to the World Trade
Center Memorial for decades to come.”
Mr. Calatrava said, “I was honored and humbled to be
asked by DMJM + Harris and STV to contribute to the
rebirth of the World Trade Center site. It is my hope
that the World Trade Center Transportation Hub will
one day be considered an important contribution to New
York City’s rich architectural history, joining such
transportation icons as Grand Central Terminal and
Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.”
The permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub is
scheduled to begin serving passengers in 2006. It is
expected to include underground pedestrian connections
to New York City subway stations on the 1/9, N/R and E
lines, as well as connections to the 2, 3, 4, 5, J, M,
Z, A and C lines at the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority’s proposed Fulton Street Transit Center.
The Port Authority is in the middle of an
environmental review process for the World Trade
Center Transportation Hub, which is being developed in
cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration.
A temporary PATH station opened at the World Trade
Center site on November 23, 2003. The temporary
station – the final piece of the Port Authority’s
$566 million program to restore PATH service as
quickly as possible between New Jersey and Lower
Manhattan – was the first public space to open
within the World Trade Center site since the September
11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The temporary station is an open-air facility that
provides a basic level of passenger service. It does
not include many of the customer amenities that
existed in the World Trade Center PATH station prior
to September 11, 2001, such as heating, air
conditioning and rest rooms. Those customer amenities
will be restored in the permanent World Trade Center
Transportation Hub.
The Port Authority began service on the Port Authority
Trans-Hudson system, more commonly known as PATH, in
1962 after taking over the system from the bankrupt
Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. The system was
originally built in 1908, and the tunnels linking New
York and New Jersey were the first passenger rail
connections between the two states.
Before September 11, 2001, the PATH rapid-transit
system of 13 stations carried approximately 260,000
daily passengers between New York and New Jersey.
Today, PATH carries approximately 180,000 daily
passengers. Prior to September 11, 2001, approximately
67,000 daily passengers boarded PATH at the World
Trade Center.
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