Urban planning professor emeritus Martin Wachs of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs has been named to lead a jury of team of eight experts in a design competition for a new Port Authority bus terminal in New York.
Since the terminal’s opening in 1950, and expansion in 1979, demand for the aging icon’s services has continued to grow beyond its capacity. Today, it serves more than 7,000 buses daily and more than 220,000 passengers on an average weekday. That is expected to increase to 270,000 daily peak hour passengers by 2020 and approximately 337,000 by 2040. It is linked to the Lincoln Tunnel, with access to more than 90,000 peak-period weekday bus commuters; 11 subway lines; five City transit bus lines; and pedestrian access to offices, theaters, shopping and entertainment in the surrounding city.
“The opportunity to play a role in the development of one of the nation’s most important transportation terminals is enormously satisfying because I have always tried to relate teaching and research to current policy challenges,” said Wachs. “This is a complex project, the jury is composed of wise and experienced people, and the entries are creative and varied.”
Wachs’ fellow jury members include experts in urban planning, transportation operations, architecture, construction management, engineering and other fields. Wachs is expected to present the jury’s recommendations to Port Authority Board of Commissioners at their September meeting. The board will make the final decision.
This story is excerpted from the original on the Luskin School website.
