New Transit Hub to Honor 9/11 With Spreading Wings

Jan. 22, 2004
Planners take the wraps off the final design today for a new transportation hub in Lower Manhattan. The hub would link ferries, commuter trains and subway lines. • View Photos | Watch the Story

Planners take the wraps off the final design today for a new transportation hub in Lower Manhattan. The hub would link ferries, commuter trains and subway lines.
View Photos | Watch the Story
View Photos | Watch the Story

Planners take the wraps off the final design today for a new transportation hub in Lower Manhattan. The hub would link ferries, commuter trains and subway lines.

The $2-billion project is expected to rival landmarks like Grand Central Terminal.

Stacey Sager reports from Lower Manhattan on Eyewitness News at noon.

The $2-billion transit hub will have huge glass and steel wings that will open each year on the anniversary of September 11.

This is the last major piece of the city's redevelopment plan for Lower Manhattan, and it is being designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

The glass and steel wings will rise up to a height of 150 feet so natural light can reach rail platforms 60 feet below street level.

It's a "wedge of light" that Governor Pataki called fitting, especially when they open each year on September 11.

Governor George Pataki: "We have an obligation every day, and in everything we do in Lower Manhattan, never to forget those moments. And never to forget those heroes. And that is what our goal and our effort has been in the more than two years since that horrible date."

The new hub will link ferries, commuter trains, and 14 different subway lines, and is expected to handle 80,000 passengers a day. But don't expect it to be completed until 2009.

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