Bus Terminal

The Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) was built in 1950 and is the nation’s largest and the world’s busiest bus terminal. Since 2013, the Authority conducted planning exercises and strategies for the PABT replacement, supporting bus storage and staging facilities to inform the planning budget and Capital Plan. This four-year term contract, with two additional one-year option periods, consisted of providing expert planning, design, and support services to complete the environmental review for the Port Authority Bus Terminal Replacement Program (PABTRP).

SJH served as a subconsultant to WSP, providing structural support for the design and analysis of the PABT during the NEPA Scoping task. This involved alternative analysis with the preliminary recommended preferred alternative, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with data collection and scoping, public involvement, and engineering to define alternatives, support the Local Public Agencies (LPA) selection, advance alternative development, and provide preliminary engineering. The team developed alternatives and incorporated the assessment and mitigation of potential environmental impacts, which included:

• Performing Travel Demand Forecast Modeling to understand changes in travel behaviors
• Evaluating and screening all viable project alternatives
• Accommodating PABT capacity to meet existing needs and travel demand forecasts through 2040
• Providing adequate approach and departure ramps
• Accounting for adequate bus parking and staging facilities
• Improving efficiencies in the terminal
• Providing phasing plans
• Developing construction and staging plans

Our engineers developed various models in SAP2000 and performed the analysis of the steel-framed structures during the various phases of the proposed construction. SJH developed conceptual details for consideration, adhering to the IBC and NYC Building Codes for design and ASCE standards for loads. Data was collected and coordinated to streamline the design process, placing information in an organized manner in the electronic document management system to collaborate effectively with the Authority and other involved parties.

The latest assignment involved preliminary design efforts, which were anticipated to be completed in January 2024 to support and complete the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) / Record of Decision (ROD) issuance and New York City Uniform Land Use Review Procedures (ULURP). A Basis of Design Report was developed to establish the scope, relationships, forms, size, and appearance of the program and indicate the coordinated development of alternatives, which was approved by the Authority.