NEW YORK — Now that $4.55 billion in federal money is in hand, one of the most important pieces of lower Manhattan’s rebirth — a state-of-the-art transit hub — can go from drawing board to actuality. But let’s be careful down there, advises an editorial in the New York Daily News. Waste not, want not. Waste not, gain more.
Three weeks after downtown was devastated by the Sept. 11 attack, this page argued that focusing on the transportation infrastructure – integrating more than a dozen subway and commuter lines – would be key to rebuilding the area. Ultimately, mass transit may play a larger role in shaping the future than whatever replaces the twin towers on Ground Zero.
Link subways and buses and PATH trains and ferries and even commuter railroads, and lower Manhattan will no longer be a place where, for the most part, the sidewalks are rolled up at night. The key to the rejuvenation lies not only in commerce, but also in residential, recreational and cultural projects. Enhanced mass transit will feed them.
The plan released this week by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. shows that it understands mass transit’s primacy. But the planners also must understand the absolute necessity of getting the most bang for the bucks.
That $4.55 billion budget is huge – more than the city spends annually on constructing parks, schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, sewers and the rest. More than 20 times the cost of Grand Central Terminal’s lavish renewal and nearly six times the expected cost of transforming the Farley Post Office into a new Penn Station.
The remarkable eight-month Ground Zero cleanup came in at only $750 million – way under budget. But $750 million is what is proposed just to rehab and upgrade the Fulton St. subway station.
The new transportation center – including a Grand Central for downtown, as it has been dubbed – may require spending every penny of the $4.55 billion. Then again, maybe not. No one suggests cutting corners, but with extra care, the developers might cut costs. The savings could be used to broaden the work, allowing, for instance, inclusion of a Long Island Rail Road link. Or perhaps it could fund burying West St. from Chambers St. to Battery Place.
The city’s extraordinary transportation system is one of the great machines that makes the very idea of New York viable. Upgrading downtown’s early 20th century transit infrastructure for 21st century life is vital – and now within reach. Grab the opportunity with both hands, but be careful how you handle the cash.