As the Port Authority has begun its preparations for construction of an $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson, its need for property has arisen to the forefront. In a report prepared for New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie, an advising committee has warned that the start of construction on the New York side could be delayed by up to six months if issues relating to eminent domain takings are not resolved. Patrick McGeehan goes in depth into the issue today in The Times, but in a nutshell, some local business owners are questioning the need for a second train terminal so close to Penn Station. Still, the Port Authority says it is following proper procedure, and with the recent eminent domain holding concerning the Atlantic Yards plans, a legal challenge here would be highly unlikely to survive. [The New York Times]

On Oct. 5, Jay Walder assumed his role as the current CEO and Chairman of the MTA, and upon his arrival, outgoing chair Dale Hemmerdinger returned to his real estate roots. Hemmerdinger, a major player in New York State’s Democratic party, was not out of a public role for long though. As The Observer reported a few weeks ago, Hemmerdinger was nominated to the Port Authority board in mid-October by Gov. David Paterson. Even more so than the MTA Board, the Port Authority’s board has become a dumping ground for what reporter Eliot Brown termed “many a campaign donor, budding politicians in search of a placeholder, and onetime political heavyweights who have passed their peaks.” Political patronage lives on in New York.

While my daily focus here encompasses New York City Transit and MTA projects, to the west of Manhattan, a new rail tunnel is under construction. The Port Authority’s ARC Tunnel, spurred on by a significant stimulus investment, is slowing making its way toward Midtown Manhattan. The current plans are to build a significant extension to Penn Station, but the reality is that New York City needs Moynihan Station with its increased capacity and better pedestrian flow. To that end, Bloomberg Media’s architecture critic James S. Russell explored the shortcomings of Penn Station and the need for a better solution to the city’s rail access problem. Check it out. It’s well worth the read.

While last week I noted that the Santiago Calatrava-designed World Trade Center transportation hub may be on the chopping block, the Port Authority isn’t quite ready to give up on their ambitious plans for the downtown station. With two weeks left until he must make a series of recommendations on the PA’s downtown plans, Christopher Ward, the PA executive director, must figure out if the agency can build the Calatrava design, as The Times put it, “constructed timely and economically.”

Considering the economy and state of transit funding in the region, the odds do not favor the Port Authority or Calatrava right now. I hope, however, that the PA pushes for this plan anyway. The last thing we need is some Penn Station monstrosity anchoring the planned downtown revival. The Calatrave project is ambitious, visually appealing and functional. In other words, it’s everything the New York City transit architecture world is missing, and to lose it now would be a shame.

According to recent reports, by the time Port Authority gets around to wrapping work on its World Trade Center Transit Hub, we’ll have lived through two more Presidential elections not counting the current race. Downtown Express reported last week that the Hub won’t be open until 2016 at the earliest. Meanwhile, The Times reports that, due to rising costs, Santiago Calatrava’s design is going to be drastically modified. The no-column approach may be scrapped all together.

So by the time this project is completed — if the Port Authority can meet its ambitious timeline — at least 15 years will have elapsed since the 9/11 attacks. No wonder people are clamoring for someone who can Get Things Done.

Eight days ago, I told you about plans to include space for transit on the new span set to replace the Goethals Bridge replacement. Yesterday, Mobilizing the Region presented background on the transit aspects of the plan and a fancy set of renderings for the project. While construction isn’t set to begin until 2011, we should still applaud the way the Port Authority’s thinking for the bridge evolved to include public transit lanes. If only we could retrofit some of the other, more lacking river crossings as well.

One of the worst decisions Robert Moses ever forced upon the city of New York involved dedicated transit lanes along the Van Wyck Expressway that could have served as the right-of-way for a high-speed raillink to JFK Airport (then Idlewild). Moses refused to compromise with transit advocates, and we’re stuck with the set-up we have today. Across the city, along the Hudson River crossings, transit has always been an afterthought. While extensive tunnels lead into Penn Station, none of the major crossings have space reserved for transit. But now that these crossings are showing their ages and are up for replacement, the Port Authority is planning, tentatively, to rectify this historical oversight.

According to the Daily News, the Port Authority’s plans for a Goethals Bridge replacement contain tentative plans for mass transit lanes. Of course, tentative plans are always the first to go when budgets climb, and this crossing won’t see the light of day by 2015 at the earliest. But we have to applaud this news now and urge our politicians to switch that label from “tentative” to “definite” by the time construction begins in a few years.