The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has just confirmed the news we've all been hearing about: the World Trade Center Transportation Hub - highlighted by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Oculus - will be opening on the first week of March.
The World Trade Center Transportation Hub will provide a connection for the World Trade Center PATH station and 11 New York City subway lines, as well as the East River ferries, reports Curbed.
The different stations will be linked through underground passageways, which will also provide a walkway connection to the Westfield mall found beneath the Oculus, slated to open "in phases" starting this spring.
The WTC Transportation Hub also features several amenities that will help commuters have a better transportation experience. The Port Authority press release states:
"When the Oculus opens, PATH commuters will take new underground passageways to One World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, the corner of Liberty and Church streets a few blocks from Wall Street and to Vesey Street on the northern edge of the site. The new facility contains state-of-the-art escalators and elevators for convenient vertical circulation between the trains and street level."
Port Authority Chairman John Degnan also offered his sentiments about the opening of the World Trade Center project: "More than a decade ago, planners envisioned a rebuilt transportation complex on the World Trade Center site that would provide critical links between various modes of transit for the first time."
Degnan continued, "By later this year, this vision will become reality. [...] When the Oculus opens, commuters, visitors and residents of Lower Manhattan will have a greatly enhance commute to and from the site for the first time."
Once completed, the World Trade Transportation Hub will be the third largest transportation center within New York City. The Hub is expected to have over 250,000 daily commuters.