![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Environmental Impact Statement for the Permanent PATH Terminal at World Trade Center in New York, NY
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: September 26, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 187)]
[Notices]
[Page 55737-55739]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26se03-124]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
Environmental Impact Statement for the Permanent PATH Terminal at
World Trade Center in New York, NY
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The FTA, in cooperation with the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey (PANYNJ), intends to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) on a proposal to create a new Permanent Port Authority
Trans Hudson (PATH) Terminal at the World Trade Center (WTC) site.
The proposed project would consist of a track and platform level,
an associated mezzanine/fare equipment level, and a terminal building
incorporating sub-grade pedestrian connections in all directions to
adjacent streets, New York City Transit (NYCT) subways, and on and off-
site developments. The PATH tubes, tracks, platforms, and mezzanine
would be located on the west portion of the WTC site between Greenwich
and West Streets as they were prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks
that destroyed the World Trade Center and the previous World Trade
Center PATH Terminal. The platform level would contain four platforms
and five tracks, and fare equipment would be located on the mezzanine
level. A new terminal building would be constructed with a connection
to the PATH mezzanine below it. The terminal building would provide
pedestrian access to PATH from three levels. The lower concourse would
have connections to the future buildings on the WTC site and off-site
development across West, Vesey, and Church Streets. The upper concourse
level would reestablish access to the NYCT stations on the 1/9, N, R,
and E routes and would provide a possible connection to NYCT's proposed
Fulton Street Transit Center for access to NYCT stations on the 2, 3,
4, 5, J, M, Z, A, and C routes. (The Fulton Street Transit Center is
the subject of a separate environmental review by FTA.) At street-
level, patrons could access via Church Street. The EIS is being
prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969 and the applicable regulations implementing NEPA, as set
forth in 23 CFR part 771 and 40 CFR parts 1500-1508.
The EIS will evaluate a No Action Alternative, a Build Alternative
and any reasonable alternative generated by the scoping process.
Scoping will be accomplished through meetings and correspondence with
interested persons, organizations, and Federal, state, regional and
local agencies.
DATES: The public is invited to participate in project scoping on
October 8, 2003, in New Jersey and on October 9, 2003, in New York at
the locations identified under ADDRESSES below. To ensure that all
significant issues are identified and considered, two sessions will be
held at each meeting: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Poster
boards depicting the project concept will be available for review at
the meeting location. A formal presentation by the PANYNJ will be made
at 2:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m. followed by the opportunity for the
[[Page 55738]]
public to comment on the scope of the EIS. Representatives of the
PANYNJ will be available during the poster session for informal
comments and questions. Those wishing to speak are required to register
at the meeting location before 2:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. Additional
speakers will be invited until there are no more requesting to be
heard. Subsequent opportunities will be announced on the Internet, by
mail, and through other appropriate means, and will be conducted
throughout the study area. Additional information may be obtained from
the project's Web site: http://www.panynj.gov/PATHRestoration. Written
comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent to the PANYNJ Project
Manager by 5 p.m. eastern daylight time on October 29, 2003, at the
address given under ADDRESSES below.
ADDRESSES: The public scoping meeting in New York will be held at
Alexander Hamilton Custom House, One Bowling Green, New York, New York.
The New Jersey Scoping Meeting will be held at Hudson County
Administration Annex Freeholder's Chambers, Jersey City, New Jersey.
Both locations are accessible by persons with disabilities. If language
translation or signing is needed, please notify PANYNJ at (212) 435-
5599 at least one week in advance of the meeting. Written comments will
be accepted at the meeting or may be sent to the following address at
any time during the scoping period: Mr. Anthony Cracchiolo, PANYNJ
Priority Capital Programs, 115 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10006.
The scoping document may also be requested by writing to this address
or by calling (212) 435-5599. Requests to be placed on the project's
mailing list may also be made by calling this number or writing to the
project address above.
FOR FURTHER INORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Susan E. Schruth, Director, Lower
Manhattan Recovery Office, Federal Transit Administration, One Bowling
Green, Room 436, New York, NY 10004; Telephone: (212) 668-1770.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Scoping
FTA and PANYNJ invite interested individuals, organizations,
Federal, State, and local agencies to provide comments on the scope of
the Permanent WTC PATH Terminal EIS. During the scoping process,
comments should focus on specific social, economic, and/or
environmental issues to be evaluated, and on suggesting reasonable
alternatives that may be less costly or have fewer environmental
impacts while addressing the purpose and need for the project. To
assist interested parties in formulating their comments, a scoping
document has been prepared and is available on the PANYNJ Web site
address noted above, or upon request from the PANYNJ representative
identified above. The scoping information document includes the
project's purpose and need, goals and objectives, a preliminary list of
alternatives and a description of each, and environmental areas that
will be addressed during the course of the study. An outline of the
ongoing public participation effort is also contained in the
information document and on the Internet site given above.
II. Description of the Project Area
PATH is a heavy-rail system that serves a total of 13 stations in
New York and New Jersey. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
(9/11), resulted in the destruction of the PATH Terminal at the World
Trade Center. Prior to 9/11, PATH operated four routes, two of which
terminated at the World Trade Center (WTC): Newark-WTC and Hoboken-WTC.
In addition to providing direct service to Lower Manhattan from Newark,
Jersey City, and Hoboken, intermodal connections along these routes
allowed for transfers between PATH and New Jersey Transit (NJT)
commuter rail, Newark city subway, New York City subways, trans-Hudson
ferries, and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. Prior to 9/11, Lower
Manhattan was the nation's third largest Central Business District with
approximately 120 million square feet of office space. More than
388,000 employees worked in Lower Manhattan, 16 percent of whom
commuted from New Jersey and other points west of the Hudson River.
PATH served as the principal mode of travel for New Jersey's commuters
to Lower Manhattan.
The WTC PATH Terminal was located within and beneath the WTC retail
concourse on the western portion of the site. It provided a
weatherproof connection to the WTC office towers and the World
Financial Center. Street-level access served commuters traveling north,
east, and south of the WTC site. Within the retail concourse, WTC PATH
patrons could connect with subway stations on NYCT's 1/9, E, and N/R
routes.
The WTC and its PATH Terminal were a major downtown destination for
commuters and visitors. Patrons of the PATH system could easily access
the WTC, World Financial Center, the Financial District, and the Civic
Center. PATH served not only as the principal connection to Lower
Manhattan for New Jersey's commuters but also as an important link
between Lower Manhattan and office centers in Jersey City, Newark, and
Hoboken.
III. Problem Identification
Prior to 9/11, the WTC PATH Terminal provided the primary transit
link to Lower Manhattan from New Jersey, serving local markets in
Hudson and Essex counties and providing a key linkage for New Jersey
Transit rail commuters on routes at major transit hubs at Penn Station
Newark and Hoboken Terminal. The WTC PATH Terminal served over 67,000
PATH passengers daily and was operating near capacity during peak
hours. This Terminal was destroyed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Since 9/11, PANYNJ has undertaken projects to temporarily restore
PATH service to Lower Manhattan and to stabilize below-grade portions
of the WTC site. PANYNJ is currently constructing a temporary PATH
station with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.
Scheduled to open in November 2003, the temporary station is located in
the southeast portion of the WTC site and will provide four tracks and
three platforms in a configuration to accommodate 8-car PATH trains.
The station will provide pedestrian access through the eastern portion
of the WTC site to Church Street. Although the temporary WTC PATH
station will allow restoration of service, it will not fully restore
the pedestrian connections or the capacity that previously existed at
the WTC PATH Terminal. Moreover, the temporary station was designed and
constructed to have only a short-term service life to serve the
transportation need while more lasting decisions about the WTC site are
being made. Without a permanent Terminal, there will not be an adequate
transit link between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey when the temporary
PATH station must be retired in several years.
IV. Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
The Permanent WTC PATH Terminal is proposed to be a full service,
regional transportation hub that will be integrated with the existing
and future transportation infrastructure, WTC site development, and the
surrounding area. The project is needed to reestablish and enhance
transportation facilities and infrastructure that existed at the WTC
complex prior to September 11, 2001, and to ensure the long-term
accessibility and economic vitality of Lower Manhattan.
[[Page 55739]]
V. Alternatives
Once the WTC site was stabilized after the destruction of 9/11, a
review was undertaken by the PANYNJ to examine feasible alternatives
for the reconstruction of a PATH Terminal. In developing these
alternatives, PANYNJ considered the limitations of the previous WTC
PATH Terminal and compatibility with other improvements proposed for
downtown including the potential future Fulton Street Transit Center,
reconstruction on the WTC site, and alternatives for Highway Route 9A.
Four alternative locations were developed and evaluated: Reconstruction
of PATH in the pre-9/11 location; new Church Street Terminal; new Vesey
Street Terminal; and stub-end Broadway-Nassau Terminal. Preliminary
analysis showed that both the Vesey and Broadway-Nassau Street options
would not provide for significant improvements in service as compared
to the pre-9/11 condition and would result in suspension of temporary
PATH service during construction. While the Church Street option would
provide for similar service and local transit connections as the pre-9/
11 location, it would be more costly, would result in a longer
connection to the World Financial Center, and would limit the
development potential for the WTC site. After careful consideration of
these design options, PANYNJ has opted to carry forward the pre-9/11
location for further study. Alternatives proposed for further study
are:
? No Action Alternative: The No Action alternative consists
of the transportation facilities and real estate development most
likely to be in place in the design year if the proposed project is not
built. The future No Action Alternative reflects the assumption that
Lower Manhattan development is expected to return to pre-9/11 densities
in the vicinity of the project. The No Action Alternative will serve as
the baseline against which the operational impacts of the proposed
project are compared. The baseline for measuring the construction
impacts of the project will be the conditions at the time of
construction if the project were not built. Today's traffic, noise, air
quality, and other conditions provide the best available estimate of
the construction period conditions without the project.
? Proposed Action Alternative: The proposed action would be
to reconstruct the temporary WTC PATH station as a permanent terminal
and to build a station house with above-grade connections to the street
and below-grade pedestrian connections to the buildings on the WTC
site, NYCT subways, and off-site developments across Church, Vesey, and
West Streets. Since the reestablishment of the WTC PATH Terminal will
support the larger redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, design
alternatives for other projects may require modifications to the design
of the Permanent WTC PATH Terminal. These station design options will
be considered in the EIS.
VI. Potential Adverse Effects
Upon its completion, the proposed Permanent WTC PATH Terminal is
expected to restore and enhance the transit service to Lower Manhattan
with few, if any, long-term adverse operational effects. In light of
this, and in consideration of other new construction activity that is
expected to occur in Lower Manhattan over the next decade, it is
anticipated that construction-related impacts from the proposed project
may be the most important aspect of the environmental evaluation under
NEPA. Potential effects associated with the construction phase include
impacts to: Vehicular and pedestrian access and circulation; noise and
vibration; air quality; architectural and archeological resources;
water quality; potential disturbance to contaminated and/or hazardous
materials, which may be present in the area; economic conditions; and
neighborhood character. The short-term cumulative effects of
construction of this project and other Lower Manhattan recovery
projects will be a major focus of the impact assessment. The long-term
operational issues and impacts of the alternatives to be considered in
the EIS include economic development; neighborhood character; cultural
resources; transit operations; and pedestrian circulation to, from, and
within the Terminal. In addition, the EIS will describe the methodology
used to assess impacts; identify the affected environment; and identify
opportunities and measures for mitigating adverse impacts that are
unavoidable.
VII. FTA Procedures
During the NEPA process, FTA also will comply with the requirements
of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C., 469-470), Section
4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 303), and other
applicable environmental statutes, rules, and regulations, in
accordance with FTA policy.
After the scoping process, a Draft EIS will be prepared and made
available for public and agency review and comment. One or more public
hearings will be held on the Draft EIS. On the basis of the Draft EIS
and the public and agency comments thereon, a preferred alternative
will be selected and will be fully described and further developed in
the Final EIS.
Issued on: September 17, 2003.
Susan E. Schruth,
Director, Lower Manhattan Recovery Office.
[FR Doc. 03-24433 Filed 9-25-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-57-P