'Be careful what you wish for': Port Authority breaks ground on new Midtown bus terminal

The Port Authority finally broke ground on its new $10 billion Midtown bus terminal Thursday, a decades-in-the-making project to transform one of New York’s most antiquated and heavily used transit hubs into a modern station.

The new facility will replace the decrepit 74-year-old terminal on 42nd Street, which struggles to accommodate its 200,000 daily riders, much less the type of modern buses that require electric charging stations. Officials said the new space will be able to handle 1,000 buses per hour, up from the 600 the current building can manage.

Port Authority officials said the start of work – the construction of a deck over Dyer Avenue near the Lincoln Tunnel entrance — keeps the project on pace to be finished in 2032. The deck will create a temporary roadway that will eventually lead to a temporary bus facility. That facility will serve as an interim terminal while the old one is demolished and replaced.

Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said Midtown residents should prepare for years of disruptions.

“ I'm not going to stand here and say there's not going to be any pain,” Cotton said during a news conference. “There's going to be a lot of construction here. We had extensive conversations with the community boards, we had extensive conversations with all five of the elected officials who represent this area, and we said, ‘be careful what you wish for.’”

Still, he said the project would be worth the trouble. He called the existing bus terminal, which is among the world's busiest, a “notorious eyesore that fails the commuters who use it.”

“‘The worst place on planet Earth’ was how one comedian famously described our current bus terminal, and that might even be an understatement.”

Once the new bus terminal is finished, officials said the roadway deck over Dyer Avenue that broke ground Wednesday will turn into a 3.5-acre public space.

The Port Authority has pitched plans for a new terminal since at least 2007, but it took the agency until 2019 to finalize a design for the facility.

The new terminal will feature massive glass windows and an atrium to allow ample natural light into the building, a far cry from the current dimly lit facility. The Port Authority’s plan features a large entrance on West 41st Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.

“For many, this bus station is their first impression of New York City,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul. “We can do better. We must do better. This is about our image.”

The project, which is slated to cost at least $10 billion, still isn’t fully funded. In the final week of former President Joe Biden’s term, the Port Authority secured a $2 billion federal loan for the work. The agency previously signed off on another $3 billion of its funding for the work, and Port officials said they expect to allocate another $3 billion in its next capital plan.

That leaves a $2 billion hole in the project’s budget, which officials hope will come from fees on new skyscrapers near the bus terminal that have not yet been approved.