Vesey St. May Be Off-Limits For Years
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In a signal that residents and business owners in Lower Manhattan could soon be facing new challenges related to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, the city is finalizing plans to close Vesey Street — possibly for several years — to accommodate the next phase of construction.
The duration of the closure of Vesey Street between Church Street and West Broadway is being discussed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the city’s Department of Transportation. It could last for the duration of construction of Tower 2, which could take up to five years, according to several sources.
“I am not sure about the five years, if it has to be that long,” Council Member Alan Gerson said yesterday in an interview.
“It should be closed when the next phase begins because of safety issues. It is an important thoroughfare for commuters, but dragging the construction out much longer is worse than the inconvenience to the community of closing Vesey street,” he said.
To accommodate the spillover from the closure of Vesey, which serves as a main thoroughfare to PATH Transit Station, the Port Authority said it would be adding new signage and extending curb cuts to expand the width of the surrounding sidewalks on Barclay and Church streets, among others.
Up to 50,000 commuters a day use the PATH Transit Station.
At a Community Board 1 meeting last night, a Port Authority spokesman, Glenn Guzi, said the duration of the closure had not been determined.
“We know that it would have some impact,” he said. “What is driving this issue is safety.”
Mr. Guzi also said that “modifications” on Liberty Street could have an impact on street traffic, though he said he did on not expect a closure of that street to be necessary.
A spokesman for the transportation department, Scott Gastel, said the city is “discussing traffic plans for the area with the Port Authority.”
The executive director of the Port Authority, Christopher Ward, will deliver a full assessment of the scheduling and budgets for the World Trade Center reconstruction plan on September 29.
