Port Authority's $11 billion bus terminal rebuild is underway

What happened

Construction is underway on a new Port Authority Bus Terminal, NY1 reported. The project costs $11 billion. Work started about a year ago, and completion is set for 2035.

A temporary terminal must be built first. It is due in 2030. Officials say that once the new terminal opens, the interim terminal will become a bus storage area. Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said this means New Jersey Transit buses will not have to go back to New Jersey in the middle of the day. She said several hundred buses now make two more trips through the tunnel than they need to. Officials expect less tunnel traffic as a result.

Drivers using the Lincoln Tunnel have seen "deckovers" on Dyer Avenue and parts of the expressway leading to 30th Street. Garcia said steel girders weighing as much as 60,000 to 80,000 pounds are covered with precast and then poured concrete. The deckovers will create three and a half acres of open space. They will serve as staging areas during construction and become green space when the terminal is built. Steve Plate, the Port Authority's chief of major capital projects, said a series of three ramps must be erected and work is moving along.

The construction has already rerouted buses onto city streets and caused some delays. One rider told NY1 it takes longer to get through the tunnel at rush hour. The Port Authority says it has changed some construction techniques to reduce noise.