Port Authority Capital Plan

Agency to Invest $1.8 Billion in 2004 to Improve Infrastructure

by Natalie Keith

With an eye toward rebuilding Lower Manhattan and enhancing transportation infrastructure, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey passed a $1.8 billion capital budget for 2004.

The plan is part of $4.5 billion budget that also includes $2.1 billion in operating expenses, $568 million for debt service and $57 million for deferred expenses and expenses related to Sept. 11, 2001. The projected capital plan for the years 2004-2008 is $9 billion.

"The Port Authority continues to invest in safety and security programs and advancing work essential to rebuilding Lower Manhattan, while moving forward with other important transportation projects," said New York Governor George Pataki, in a prepared statement regarding the budget.

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For the first time in eight years, the agency has approved an operating budget and capital spending plan in December. This will allow for more effective management of operations throughout the year, as well as more effective planning of investments on transportation projects. At $1.8 billion, the capital budget is among the largest single-year investments in the agency's history, according to Port Authority officials.

"Moving forward, we will continue to look for better and more efficient ways to operate our facilities and provide the kind of transportation services that our people deserve," said Port Authority chairman Anthony Coscia.

Many challenges faced the Port Authority in finalizing the budget. Since Sept. 11, 2001, activity at the region's airports, bridges and tunnels have been lower than expected which has resulted in lower revenues. In addition, expenses for security, insurance, and lease payments to New York City for the John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports are higher. New and restored initiatives, such as AirTrain JFK and the reopened Exchange Place and temporary World Trade Center PATH stations, have also resulted in higher costs.

The 2004 budget reflects additional costs associated with the extension of the lease with the New York City for John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports. It also assumes the Port Authority will continue to receive uninterrupted payments from the net lease of the World Trade Center. The budget also incorporates higher legislatively mandated employer contributions to the New York State retirement system.

In addition to enhanced security initiatives and the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan, major investments in the 2004-2008 capital plan include:

• progressing with a new domestic passenger terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport
  
• making roadway, parking and airside improvements at Newark Liberty International Airport
  
• Funding new passenger rail service to the New Jersey Meadowlands
  
• Advancing environmental reviews to consider alternatives to replace the capacity constrained Goethals Bridge
  
• Expanding high-speed "EZ-Flow" toll collection systems at additional Hudson River Crossings
  
• Funding and transfer of property to create Brooklyn Bridge Park
  
• Continuing deepening of shipping channels in New York harbor to accommodate larger, deep-draft container ships, including the start of projects to deepen channels to 50 feet
  
• Purchasing additional new PATH cars to enhance reliability and comfort for riders
  
• Funding for transportation and economic development projects in New York and New Jersey, including the purchase of bi-level passenger cars for New Jersey Transit and construction of the Farley Building-Pennsylvania Station redevelopment project

"The Port Authority is meeting these obligations without raising bridge and tunnel tolls and PATH fares," said Coscia, in a letter introducing the budget.

Among changes for 2004 is a $97 million increase in spending on tunnels, bridges and terminals from $190 million in 2003 to $287 million in 2004. Reasons for the increase are a greater-than-planned 2004 construction activity for the Lincoln Tunnel bus ramp coating program and slab rehabilitation, environmental and planning work associated with the Goethals Bridge modernization and additional planned security projects at all facilities, including barrier gates, George Washington Bridge tower steel reinforcement and various other projects.

The capital plan also includes a $70 million increase in spending on regional programs, from $191 million in 2003 to $261 million in 2004.

The plan reflects an $89 million decrease in spending on the downtown restoration program, which reflects the completion of the temporary PATH station at the World Trade Center site. With the JFK AirTrain project was also completed in 2003, spending for the program dropped by $78 million, from $179 million in 2003 to $101 million in 2004.

The Port Authority operates many of the busiest airports, bridges and tunnels in the city including John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports; The George Washington Bridge; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the three bridges between Staten Island and New Jersey; the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rapid-transit rail system; the Downtown Manhattan Heliport; Port Newark; the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal; the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island; the Brooklyn Piers/Red Hook Container Terminal; and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

With the capital plan in place, the Port Authority is already moving forward with two major projects to rebuild the World Trade Center site. Designs were released for the 1,776-foot-tall Freedom Tower and World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Officials are hoping to break ground on the Freedom Tower in mid-2004.

"(The World Trade Center Transportation Hub) is the Port Authority's gift to New York City," said architect Santiago Calatrava, who designed it. "It will be the lamp of hope in the middle of Lower Manhattan, creating an unbroken line of natural light from the platforms to the sky."

Tishman Construction Corporation, which is currently building 7 World Trade Center, was named the construction manage for the Freedom Tower, which was designed by architects David Childs and Daniel Libeskind.

The building will contain 2.6 million sq. ft. of office space on approximately 60 stories - clad in shimmering glass. The base will contain both public lobbies and lobbies for the office building. Two concourse levels will house retail components and connect to transit hubs. At the top, the building will house both roof top restaurants and a public observation deck.

Above the occupied spaces, a lacy structure of tension cables that brace the building - similar to those found in the Brooklyn Bridge - will continue, rising up to 1,500 feet. The cables will provide opportunities to highlight the design with inspirational lighting. Within the structure, wind-harvesting turbines are proposed to provide 20 percent of the building's energy.

"This is another important and meaningful milestone in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Moving ahead on the Freedom Tower reclaims the skyline of New York and provides a fulcrum for the future development of the master plan," said Libeskind, in a prepared statement.

The building will incorporate state-of-the-art life safety systems that are the hallmark of advanced engineering, and will far exceed the requirements of the New York City building code. In addition to structural redundancy and extra strong fireproofing, the building will include biological and chemical filters in the air supply system. Concrete-encased stair and elevator cores, extra-wide pressurized stairs, low-level emergency lighting, and concrete protection for all sprinklers and emergency risers will be provided in addition to interconnected redundant exits, additional stair exit locations at the street, and direct exit to the street from tower stairs.

"Extending the great tradition of American ingenuity and innovation, the Freedom Tower incorporates the highest standards of design, safety, quality and technology in what will become the world's tallest building," said Childs, in a prepared statement.

The $2 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub will include:

• A permanent PATH terminal that eventually will serve more than 80,000 daily PATH riders.
  
• Pedestrian connections that will 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.
  
• Greater open space in the Wedge of Light Plaza and additional access from Church Street to the Memorial District.
  
• State-of-the-art safety, security and environmental enhancements.

The permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub will feature seamless pedestrian connections to the World Financial Center and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed Fulton Street Transit Center. Lower Manhattan residents, commuters and visitors will enjoy faster access to ferry service along the Hudson River, and to 14 Lower Manhattan subway lines - the 1/9, 2, 3, 4, 5, N, R, A, C, E, J, M and Z. The hub is also being designed to accommodate potential rail service to John F. Kennedy International Airport or other destinations.

"The World Trade Center Hub will enable a quarter-million daily travelers to reach their destinations across Lower Manhattan faster and more conveniently. Much as the rehabilitation of Grand Center Terminal has sparked the revitalization of Midtown, the restoration and enhancement of Lower Manhattan's transportation system will accelerate the economic recovery of the nation's third-largest business district," said Port Authority vice chairman Charles Gargano, in a released statement.

The permanent PATH terminal is expected to begin serving passengers by the end of 2006. All elements of the hub are scheduled for completion by 2009.

The Port Authority is currently doing an environmental review for the hub, which is being developed in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration.

A temporary PATH station opened at the World Trade Center site in November 2003. It is an open-air facility that provides basic passenger services but does not include many of the amenities that existed in the station prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, such as heat, air conditioning and rest rooms. The permanent hub will contain those amenities.

"The significance of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is nothing short of historic," said Port Authority executive director Joseph Seymour, in a released statement. "We will finally untangle Lower Manhattan's knotted network of confusing mass-transit connections, which have hindered this part of the city for a century."

In a related development, designs were revealed for the memorial that will honor the victims of Sept. 11. Architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker unveiled a refined design called "Reflecting Absence." Arad and Walker were selected after the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation launched the international World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition in April 2003.

The following is a description of the memorial written by Arad and Walker: "This memorial proposes a space that resonates with the feelings of loss and absence that were generated by the destruction of the World Trade Center and the taking of thousands of lives on Sept. 11, 2001 and Feb. 23, 1993. It is located in a field of trees that is interrupted by two large voids containing recessed pools. The pools and the ramps that surround them encompass the footprints of the twin towers. A cascade of water that describes the perimeter of each square feeds the pools with a continuous stream. They are large voids, open and visible reminders of the absence."

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has been created to raise funds for the memorial and will be formally launched later this month. Donations, made payable to the World Trade Center Site Memorial Foundation, can be sent to: World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 5024, Bowling Green Station, New York, N.Y., 10274-5024.

"The Freedom Tower will reclaim our skyline with a proud new symbol of our nation's resilience. The museum will tell the countless individual stories of lives cut short and the unprecedented heroism we witnessed. The performing arts center, the transportation hub, the commercial buildings, will restore culture and commerce - and life - to the site in defiance of terrorism," said LMDC president Kevin Rampe, in a released statement.

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