Plans to erase “the single worst place on planet earth” are again gaining steam. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Thursday it will raze the dated and befouled structure and replace it with a state-of-the-art facility better able to serve the more than 250,000 passengers that passed through daily, pre-pandemic.

The new five-story, two million-square-foot building will be constructed on the same Midtown site, but increase capacity by nearly 40 percent. The plan would also add new bus ramp infrastructure between 10th and 11th Avenues and a four-story storage and staging facility to help mitigate rush-hour congestion—this too would be a temporary terminal during the demolition and construction of the replacement 8th Avenue building. In response to public demand, the project would see about 3.5 acres of new green space implemented on decking atop the Dyer Avenue entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.

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The cost of the new facility is estimated to exceed $10 billion, $3 billion of which has already been set aside via the agency’s 2017-2026 Capital Plan. The remainder will be bridged using proceeds from the sale of development rights for four new high-rises on surrounding parcels (one on 8th Avenue between 41st Street and 42nd Street; one on 9th Avenue between 40th Street and 41st Street; one on 11th Avenue between 39th Street and 40th Street; and one on 10th Avenue between 39th Street and 40th Street), city PILOTs, as well as Federal Transit Administration programs and payments.

The Port Authority’s plan will next enter a public review process, then head to a federal environmental review by the Federal Transit Administration. Rick Cotton, the agency’s executive director, says a “10-year time frame” for completing the project has been established.