WORLD TRADE CENTER (PATH STATION)

(Redirected from World Trade Center Transportation Hub)

The 'World Trade Center' PATH station originally opened on July 19, 1909 as the Hudson Terminal. When the Hudson Terminal was torn down to make way for the World Trade Center, a new station was built, which opened in 1971. This station served as the terminus for the Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center routes until it was destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. A temporary station was built, which opened on November 23, 2003.

Contents
Hudson Terminal
World Trade Center
Temporary PATH station
New York City Subway connections
Plans for the new station
Background
Design
Nearby attractions
See also
References
External links

Hudson Terminal


Hudson Terminal was built by the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad at the turn of the twentieth century and was located between Greenwich, Cortlandt, Church, and Fulton Streets. It was an architectural and engineering marvel of its time, carefully planned and designed with a series of ramps descending from the street level to the mezzanine, to allow pedestrian traffic to flow in and out of the station quickly and easily. The station was served by two single-track tubes connected by a loop to speed train movements. The loop included five tracks and 3 platforms (2 center island and one side) and is somewhat similar to the current arrangement.
Above the Hudson Terminal were two office towers — then the largest office development in the world — which brought in rental income to the Railroad. When the H&M was sold to the Port Authority in 1962 following years of bankruptcy, it was decided that the new World Trade Center development would be built on the Hudson Terminal site (and not at an East River site, as had been planned). The new station opened simultaneously as the old station closed in July of 1971.

World Trade Center


The 1971 station opened on July 6, 1971, and was sited at a different location from the original Hudson Terminal.[1] The PATH station platform was slightly longer than its predecessor, accommodating 10-car trains versus the 6-car trains that the Hudson Terminal could handle.
The station was served by Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center trains. Sections of the station, particularly the floor and the signage on the northeast corner, were lightly damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center and remain today by the / platforms. They are to remain in the new station.

Temporary PATH station


Hoboken-bound train at the World Trade Center PATH station. (2005)

Temporary WTC PATH Station, (2005).

A temporary PATH station, designed by Port Authority chief architect Robert I. Davidson[2] and constructed at a cost of $323 million,[3] opened on November 23, 2003. The station features a canopy entrance along Church Street and a 118-by-12 foot mosaic mural, "Iridescent Lightning," by Giulio Candussio2 of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in Spilimbergo, Italy. The station is also adorned with opaque panel walls inscribed with inspirational quotes attesting to the greatness and resilience of New York City. These panels partially shield the World Trade Center site from view.
Following its reopening and the resumption of Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center service, the station quickly reclaimed its status as the busiest station in the PATH system.
Visitors can arrange to give oral recorded histories of the disaster at the Storycorps booth near the A-C entrance.
By June 2007, the street entrance to the temporary station was closed and demolished as part of the ongoing site contruction. A set of new staircases was constructed several feet to the south.
New York City Subway connections

The station also connects to several New York City Subway services:

★ The train (all times), train (all times except late nights), and train at the Chambers Street–World Trade Center station of the IND Eighth Avenue Line

★ The train (all times) and train (all times except late nights) at the Park Place station of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Two connections are currently closed:

★ The train at the Cortlandt Street station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (closed indefinitely pending reconstruction of the World Trade Center site)

★ The , , and trains at the Cortlandt Street station on the BMT Broadway Line (temporarily closed due to construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center)
The Fulton–Broadway–Nassau station complex is one block away. An underground passageway along Dey Street is being constructed as part of the Fulton Street Transit Center project. Currently, there is street-level connection to the following services:

★ The train (all times) and train (all times except late nights) at the Fulton Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line

★ The train (all times except weekends), train (rush hours only), and train (rush hours only) at the Fulton Street station on the BMT Nassau Street Line.

Plans for the new station


Background

The future transit hub at the World Trade Center site in New York City, to be completed in 2009. This is an early rendering. The station being constructed has shorter spires.

The temporary PATH station will be replaced with a permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at a cost of $2 billion.[4]
A large transit station was not part of the 2003 Memory Foundations master plan for the site by Daniel Libeskind, which called for a smaller station along the lines of the original subterranean station that existed beneath the World Trade Center. Libeskind's design called for the space to be left open, forming a "Wedge of Light" so that sun rays around the autumnal equinox would hit the World Trade Center footprints each September.
In early 2004, the Port Authority, which owns the land, modified the Libeskind plan to include a world-class transportation station downtown that was intended to rival Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. In a nod to the Liebeskind concept, the station will be at an angle to maximize the effect of the autumnal equinox rays.
Lower Manhattan has never had an ambitious transit or railroad center, as the former complex at the World Trade Center was built beneath the buildings. The station is designed to connect the PATH to the New York City Subway system. A proposal for a connection to the Long Island Rail Road via a new tunnel under the East River, the Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project, is currently in the alternatives analysis stage.
Design

Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava, designer of the station, said it resembles a bird being released from a child's hand. Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic of ''The New York Times'', wrote:
:Santiago Calatrava's design for the World Trade Center PATH station should satisfy those who believe that buildings planned for ground zero must aspire to a spiritual dimension. Over the years, many people have discerned a metaphysical element in Mr. Calatrava's work. I hope New Yorkers will detect its presence, too. With deep appreciation, I congratulate the Port Authority for commissioning Mr. Calatrava, the great Spanish architect and engineer, to design a building with the power to shape the future of New York. It is a pleasure to report, for once, that public officials are not overstating the case when they describe a design as breathtaking.[5]
Another critic wrote:
:The World Trade Center PATH Terminal by Santiago Calatrava, the renowned Spanish architect and engineer, is what we should have at ground zero. Not modified suburban malls with water fountains, but a major cultural contribution to our city.[6]
However, Calatrava's original soaring spike design has been scaled back because of security issues. The ''Times'' observed, "In the name of security, Santiago Calatrava's bird has grown a beak. Its ribs have doubled in number and its wings have lost their interstices of glass.... [T]he main transit hall, between Church and Greenwich Streets, will almost certainly lose some of its delicate quality, while gaining structural expressiveness. It may now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird."[7]
The station has also stirred problems with developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the lease for the World Trade Center site, since it took away available space for his proposed buildings.
Construction of the station calls for relocation of the landmark World Trade Center cross in 2006. The permanent station is scheduled to be completed in 2009.

Nearby attractions



African Burial Ground

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Battery Park City

Battery Park


★ Ferries to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty

Bowling Green


Charging Bull at Bowling Green

Castle Clinton

Federal Hall

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Fraunces Tavern

Irish Hunger Memorial

National Museum of the American Indian

New York City Hall

New York Stock Exchange

Skyscraper Museum

St. Paul's Chapel

Trinity Church

Wall Street

Woolworth Building

World Financial Center

See also



Port Authority Trans-Hudson

World Trade Center

World Trade Center site

References


1. New PATH Station Opens Downtown
2. At Ground Zero, a Conduit of People and Memory
3. Again, Trains put the World Trade Center
4. Calatrava's WTC Transportation Hub Soars - lowermanhattan.info
5. Herbert Muschamp, "PATH Station Becomes A Procession of Flight," ''The New York Times'', January 23, 2004
6. Michael Kimmelman, "Ground Zero Finally Grows Up," ''The New York Times'', February 1, 2004
7. David W. Dunlap, "Approval Expected Today For Trade Center Rail Hub," ''The New York Times'', July 28, 2005

External links



PATH - Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

PATH/Downtown Restoration

Fulton Street Transit Center

nycsubway.org

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