PATH WTC hub completion date delayed

Later than expected, Santiago Calatrava’s giant porcupine will be a cornerstone of Lower Manhattan. (Source: Lower Manhattan)

Here’s a shocker: The World Trade Center hub, much like every other project centered around Ground Zero, won’t open until at least a year later than expected. The Port Authority announced today that the completion date on Santiago Calatrava’s ridiculously ornate and oddly Star Trekian transit hub is now set for 2011, a mere 10 years after the 9/11 attacks.

The delay represents a set-back of two years for the beleaguered Port Authority. Originally, they had hoped to get the PATH station open by the end of 2009. “Construction of this magnitude is very complicated — things could change,” Josh Rosenbloom, director of city operations for the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center, said to Downtown Express reporter Julie Shapiro.

And how, you may wonder, does this affect the MTA? Let me count the ways:

Within the next few months, the entrance to the PATH station will move from Church St. to the corner of Greenwich and Vesey Sts., said Josh Rosenbloom, director of city operations for the L.M.C.C.C. This will be the third and last temporary entrance for the station and will be in use for “several years,” Rosenbloom said, adding that the dates are not final…

The Port has already started dismantling the temporary station and will begin demolishing it in earnest toward the end of the first quarter of 2008, he said.

When the PATH entrance moves, the station will no longer have an underground connection to the A, C, E or 2, 3 trains. Construction will also demolish the elevator on Church St. that currently serves both PATH trains and the subway. Port Authority will build a new elevator on Vesey St., but it will only go to the PATH station, said Steve Coleman, a Port spokesperson.

Oops. Fewer access points for the disabled. That won’t go over too well with the Disabled Riders Coalition.

Meanwhile, the MTA is quietly facing their own scheduling difficulties as they work on the Fulton Street transit hub. Originally — many years ago — large portions of the hub — including the work at the Cortlandt St. stop on the BMT — were supposed to open in 2006. The plans have changed, and that station is now closed indefinitely. The MTA, however, maintains that they are on pace for a 2008 target date.

“We’re trying to live down here,” CB1 Board Member Barry Skolnick said. “MTA is famous for being behind schedule. I’m very concerned, and I don’t think it’s acceptable.”

That about sums up the state of most Ground Zero projects. At least the MTA isn’t alone on this one.