Work is scheduled to continue into 2014

Calling the southern strip of the West Side Highway “the busiest utility corridor in New York City,” State Department of Transportation (SDOT) Construction Manager Thomas Mellett told Community Board 1 that crews are now in the middle of extensive infrastructure work adjacent to the World Trade Center (WTC) site.

The work is part of the Promenade South Segment 2 project, which kicked off in 2007 and has since rebuilt the traffic corridor from West Thames Street northward to Chambers Street. However, the segment between Albany and Vesey Streets alongside the WTC will remain under construction through 2014, about five years later than the original end-date.

By postponing the final reconstruction of West Street, SDOT allows the Port Authority and its contractors to perform the heavy utility work and other construction needed to complete the National 9/11 Memorial, Vehicular Security Center, WTC Chiller Plant, Transportation Hub, and 1 WTC. As that underground infrastructure is completed, SDOT crews will coordinate roadway, walkway, bikeway, and landscaping work.

Currently, SDOT has completed the full scope of work south of Albany and north of Vesey Street. Pending weather conditions, crews are expected to plant several trees in the medians this month, while local residents are already enjoying the rebuilt West Thames Park and its many amenities.

SDOT’s overall schedule shows that by late 2011, utilities near Liberty Street and Memorial Plaza access will be substantially complete, as will 1 WTC utility tie-ins. Then by 2013, Mellett says frontage of 2 World Financial Center will be rebuilt, as will reconstruction of the West-Fulton Street intersection. The Vesey Street Pedestrian Bridge also will be removed in 2013, once the Port Authority has opened its new east-west pedestrian concourse.

Planning also is underway for a new, permanent pedestrian bridge over West Street at West Thames Street, thanks to $20 million in funding expected from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. It will replace the Rector Street Bridge. A specific timeline for this work is still to come.

By 2014, Mellett says the entire Promenade South corridor -- from Battery Place to Chambers Street -- will be a unified, landscaped corridor that provides safe pedestrian access and smooth traffic movements, complete with tree-lined medians and walkways.

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