This paper summarizes the status and issues of major transportation plans for Lower Manhattan. The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) and much of the transportation infrastructure below it has created an opportunity for a bold plan for rebuilding these systems to make Lower Manhattan one of the most accessible and desirable districts in the world to work, live or visit. But to meet this goal we must not just rebuild what was lost in September 2001, but replace it with something far better. If Lower Manhattan is to fully recover, the transit systems and streets beyond the WTC site, extending to all of Lower Manhattan must be upgraded too. It will be not be cheap and it will not be easy as the City and the State sort through competing priorities and competing interests in a climate of limited resources.
It is the extraordinary concentration of public transit services - 14 rapid transit lines, over 40 bus routes and a number of ferry services, which has made Lower Manhattan’s high density possible. Transit carries 85 percent of the 1.2 million trips entering and leaving Lower Manhattan daily. This system must be maintained, upgraded and expanded if Lower Manhattan is to thrive. The road system must function too, carrying the remaining travelers, goods and waste, and providing for police, fire and emergency vehicles and buses on a network that was first laid out as cowpaths 300 years ago.
As important as the trains, buses and streets, is the public space environment encountered each day by workers, residents and visitors in Lower Manhattan. All of us must walk to and from our daily destinations and spend parts of the day on foot to run errands, travel to business meetings, lunch, shop, or just stroll to break up our busy days. The sidewalks connect us to underground transit, to the ferry slips, to the bus stops, and even to the parking lots and garages. The impressions we have, consciously or subconsciously of these experiences drive our view of whether Lower Manhattan is a place we want to be in, either on a daily basis, or even just for the occasional visit. As we come to grips with rebuilding the transportation system of this damaged portion of our City, we would be remiss if we ignored the pedestrian environment, too often an afterthought in city planning.
The remainder of this paper covers specific transportation issues, discussing the problem, the status of progress toward solutions and RPA’s perspectives.
