After years of planning , designing, funding, wrangling and negotiating, the PABTR project has received all the required approvals at the City and Federal levels to proceed. The plan is 90% funded , with the balance – a $ 1 billion federal grant – expected in January.
A working group of Manahttan Community Board 4 has been meeting as an agency with the Port Authority for 2 years. With the help on all our elected officials MCB4 solidified those gains in a Points of Agreement memo signed by Council Member Erik Bottcher on Thanksgiving eve. This paved the way for the City Council vote and the FTA Record of No objection which concludes the process.
This is a once in a lifetime event for our neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen South which had been gutted by the Robert Moses design of the Lincoln Tunnel and the Port Authority. These new buildings will redefine our district with a modern streetscape while stitching back together the fabric of our community.
The most notable features are: the facility will have sufficient capacity to absorb all buses – including long distance,
- Two large parks for a total of 3.5 acres,
- A vastly enhanced public realm with stores facing all the streets, wider sidewalks, trees, and no deliveries or trash interference.
- The design of the building facing 9th Avenue will be consistent with the 9th Avenue character and link together the north and south of the neighborhood .
- The complex will included a large community space.
- DOT will address congestion at many intersections
- DOT will also pilot closing one of the Lincoln tunnel access road to create more green space on Dyer Avenue.
- An interim location for Astro dog run is provided on the Dyer Avenue triangle, until its relocation in the parks.
- And indeed there will be a robust engagement process for this 10 year- very disruptive construction.
- The adherence and progress in the points of agreement will be monitored annually by the City Council. Read the Points of Agreement Here.
Contracts have already been awarded to build the deck overs. In January public task forces will be established, mobilization will start and the construction should kick off in the first half of 2025.