There Will Be No Ribbon Cutting for the WTC Transportation Hub Opening
Santiago Calatrava: WTC Transportation Hub , New York (Photo: Mega Projects and Skyscrapers, via YouTube)
When the subject of Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub comes up, what’s most likely to come to mind is not the flying-bird-looking architecture, but the fact that it was so incredibly delayed (it’s six years off schedule) and over-budget (final construction costs ring in around $4 billion in taxpayer dollars, twice what was projected, making it the world’s most expensive train station). The latter is not sitting well with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who oversee the hub, as they’ve announced that they will not host an event to mark the opening during the first week of March, calling it “a symbol of excess,” according to Politico. Similarly, Governors Christie and Cuomo, who control the agency, have declined to commemorate the opening.
Pat Foye, executive director of the Port Authority, said in a statement, “I’m proud of the work that the Port Authority and hundreds of skilled union workers performed on the Hub. Since I arrived here, I have been troubled with the huge cost of the Hub at a time of limited resources for infrastructure so I’m passing on the event.” He blames the excess on poor decisions made before he arrived. He also feels that the money would have been better spent elsewhere where it could have created more jobs: “Frankly, a billion or a billion and a half or two could have been taken out of the hub and put into New York Penn Station, or put into the Gateway tunnel, or put into Terminal A at Newark Airport.”
Calatrava declined to respond to the Port Authority’s comments, but after saying publicly that he was “treated like a dog” because of the project, it’s probably safe to assume he’s not happy.
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