The World Trade Center Transportation Hub Oculus – the iconic centrepiece of the sprawling transit facility – partially opened on 3 March, providing an enhanced commuter experience for PATH (the Port Authority’s Transportation Hub) riders travelling to and from Wall Street and other New York City destinations, as well as those who live in and visit the downtown area.

This spring, the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners is planning an opening ceremony as the Oculus becomes fully operational, including the eastern linkages to the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Fulton Street Transit Center and the 11 New York City subway lines that the MTA facility serves.

The opening on 3 March provides the 100 000 passengers that use the PATH facility daily with below-ground, climate-controlled access to a new entrance at the corner of Liberty and Church Streets, a few blocks from Wall Street. Over the following weeks, the eastern entrance to the Oculus will open, providing PATH riders with direct access to Church Street and to the Fulton Street Transit Center. In late spring, the new access from the Oculus to the corner of Vesey and Church Street will open.

The Transportation Hub and Oculus, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, will serve as a 21st century, state-of-the-art transit centre and represents the most integrated network of underground pedestrian connections to mass transit lines in New York City.

The Port Authority’s Chairman, John Degnan emphasised: “We trust the Oculus will serve a vital transportation need for the region, while becoming an important landmark for the metropolitan area and the nation in the decades to come.”

(Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)