AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
The completed spine of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Lower Manhattan. The shape is meant to mimic a bird about to take flight.
Fact: The new World Trade Center
Eight years overdue and with more than $2 billion in cost overruns, there are very few things that went right with the Port Authority of NY and NJ's project.
Designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the white spines which were supposed to represent a bird taking flight and evoke something "metaphysical" instead just represent a huge boondoggle.
The failure is a classic case of too many hands in the project, trying to please too many people, and ending with a finished product that, in effect, pleases no one.
The New York Times released a report outlining all the missteps and poor planning that lead to that huge $4 billion figure, which include:
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$655 million in administrative costs, including "management, supervision, inspection, monitoring and documentation, among other items."
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$355 million or more for building around the 1 line of the New York City Subway. At the time of planning, then-Governor of New York George Pataki was considering a run for president. The 1 line, which bisects the hub project, also connects Staten Island commuters from the ferry to the rest of Manhattan. Staten Island also happens to be a Republican base in largely Democratic New York City. The result was Pataki's support for the MTA's desire to build a supported bridge for the tracks and keep the 1 line open through construction.
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$78 million for former New York City Mayor Bloomberg's demand that the adjacent Sept. 11 memorial be finished before the 10th anniversary. This re-prioritized the phases of construction and complicated construction procedures.
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$474 million for steel. It was sourced from specialized factories, such as one factory in Northern Italy.
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$500 million in money-saving measures suggested to the Port Authority that were ultimately rejected.
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$323 million for the temporary PATH station which will be torn down when the new hub replaces it.
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$400 million for improvement to adjacent structures in hallways, which actually had little to do with the hub project itself. This included electrical, mechanical, and plumbing projects.
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$80 million for Calatrava's design contribution to the elaborate project.
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$400 million for the design of many of the above-ground elements of the hub, which were done by the Downtown Design Partnership.
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$982.5 million to the Port Authority's construction contractor, Phoenix Constructions. Phoenix hired subcontractors after the Port Authority and Phoenix couldn't come to an agreement on the maximum price of the project, which drove the price up.
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Not yet known costs, including damage done by Hurricane Sandy and mistakes make during construction, which is expected to be calculated in the hundreds of millions of dollars range.
The Port Authority's vice chair, Scott Rechler, put it best when he told the Wall Street Journal, "Did you need to build the [then estimated] $3.7 billion transportation hub to achieve the meaningfulness of the World Trade Center redevelopment? In hindsight, I don't know if I would have come to that conclusion."
The Port Authority of NY & NJ A rendering of what the hub's oculus will look like when completed.
When the Port Authority's board authorized the project in 2004, the cost was estimated to be $2 billion with $1.7 billion from the Federal Transit Administration and a $300 million contribution from the Port Authority. Now that the cost has doubled, where the extra funds will come from seems to be a mystery.
In 2009, the Port Authority requested an additional $662 million from federal government, with a pledge to finish the project in 2015. Indeed, the full hub, including the spined Oculus and underground hallways and retail mezzanine and already operating PATH station, is expected to open December 2015.
We'll have to wait and see.