By Stephen Jacob Smith 5/14 7:20pm

PATH to Ruin

path

PATH/Fail: The Story of the World’s Most Expensive Train Station

The Port Authority used to set records in good ways. The George Washington Bridge was a marvel of engineering in its day, the world’s longest bridge when it was built, and still the busiest. The Port Authority Bus Terminal, opened in 1950, is to this day the largest on earth by passenger volume.

But today, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn’t brag about the records it sets. One World Trade Center, born the Freedom Tower and taken over by the Port in 2006, will be the most expensive office building in the world. The “Vehicle Security Center,” an underground tour bus garage and road network serving the World Trade Center complex, may very well be the most expensive parking garage in history.

And then there’s the PATH station to New Jersey, the most troubled project at one of the world’s most troubled construction sites. At $3.74 billion, plus another $200 million in contingencies, the “Transportation Hub” at the World Trade Center—not even the busiest station in the Financial District—will be far and away the most expensive train station built in modern history. Read More

By Eliot Brown 2/24/09 9:47pm

Spitzer Port Authority Director Shorris Takes Post at N.Y.U.

Anthony Shorris, the executive director of the Port Authority under Eliot Spitzer, has taken a position as a professor at New York University's Wagner school, where he will lead the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.

Shorris, who confirmed to me that he is taking the job, has served in an array of Read More

By Eliot Brown 2/24/09 9:45pm

Spitzer Port Authority Director Shorris Takes Post at N.Y.U.

Anthony Shorris, the executive director of the Port Authority under Eliot Spitzer, has taken a position as a professor at New York University’s Wagner school, where he will lead the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.
Shorris, who confirmed to me that he is taking the job, has served in an array of Read More

By Eliot Brown 3/20/08 6:51pm

MTA, Port Authority Spared Amid Mass Resignations

The directors of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were not part of the mass of resignations requested by the Paterson administration.

The Times Union reported today that Governor Paterson’s staff has asked all directors and commissioners to put in their letters of resignation so Read More

By Staff, Staff, Staff, Staff 12/25/06 12:00am

Editorials

Bloomberg Bets On the Future

Over the next 20 years, New York City is expected to add one million residents. Imagine airlifting the entire populations of Boston and Miami into the five boroughs, and you’ll have some idea of the massive strain which will be placed on the city’s infrastructure, from its subways and streets Read More