TRENTON –Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Union) today expressed optimism about the progress made on plans for the expansion of the Port Authority Bus Terminal and on the support for the project expressed by New York officials and community leaders.
“While no decision will be made until the final Environmental Impact Study of various options is completed, it is clear that New York and New Jersey officials are on the same page in our support for the ‘build in place’ plan that would add two floors to the existing Port Authority Bus Terminal,” said Senator Weinberg.
“Expanding the existing Port Authority Bus Terminal would preserve a one-seat bus ride for New Jersey commuters while providing increased capacity to support rapidly growing demand,” said Senator Kean. “Now that there seems to be a general consensus that this is the right approach to pursue, we should not waste time in proceeding after so many delays.”
Senators Weinberg and Kean headed the New Jersey delegation at a meeting of the Port Authority Bus Terminal Bi-State Elected Officials Working Group at the Port Authority’s World Trade Center headquarters last Thursday.
“We are grateful to Port Authority Chair Kevin O’Toole and Executive Director Rick Cotton for their leadership on this project and for continuing to bring leaders from the two states together to discuss how we can expedite the long-overdue expansion and overhaul of the bus terminal that tens of thousands of New Jersey commuters rely upon every day,” Senator Weinberg said.
“New Jersey legislators, our representatives in Washington and local officials have been united on a bipartisan basis in our support for this project,” she said. “With the Gateway Tunnel project potentially stalled, it is more important than ever that we add bus terminal capacity by 2025.”