by Jason Feldman

Ferries have a long history in New York City.

They were once the dominant form of cross-river and harbor traffic - until the Brooklyn Bridge opened and ferry traffic began a long, slow decline.

Ferries made a small comeback in the mid '80s, but it wasn't until after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when bridges and tunnels were closed and Manhattan island was isolated, that the revival in ferry traffic began in earnest.

During Sept. 11, the ferries successfully evacuated 160,000 people from the tip of Manhattan. The New York Times called it the largest one-day water evacuation ever.

With the destruction of the PATH tubes leading to Lower Manhattan, NY Waterway has seen its daily passenger trips increase from 33,000 passengers to 60,000 said company spokesman Pat Smith.

"We are not looking to capitalize on a tragedy and we expect a fall-off in ridership after service has been restored to the PATH," Smith said. However, even with the completion of a reconstructed PATH tubes across the Hudson, Smith said NY Waterway is projecting an eventual increase of up to 70,000 passengers a day.

With this new demand, construction around the metropolitan area of ferry infrastructure is on the upswing.

Currently, there are five major projects under way or planned to get under way soon. They include the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan; West Midtown Ferry Terminal at Pier 79 on West 39th Street; St. George Ferry Terminal in St. George, Staten Island; Port Imperial Ferry Terminal in Weehauken, N.J.; and the historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal in Hoboken, N.J. Work is also planned on numerous slips along the East River.

Port Imperial Ferry Terminal
This new terminal in Weehauken, N.J. is envisioned as a "lantern in the river," by Jordan Gruzen, senior partner of Gruzen Samton LLP, the project's New York-based architect.

The $30 million project will replace an existing facility that is 1,000 yds. south of the Port Imperial site. The new 33,000-sq.-ft., two-story, terminal building will include a 21,000-sq.-ft. main waiting area, numerous passenger amenities and an estuary garden at the entrance.

The building will be placed on top of a pile-supported concrete platform built over the Hudson River. Connecting to the terminal building will be two floating platforms that are 100 ft. long by 35 ft. wide that will contain the four ferry slips. The ferry slips have been designed to be ADA compatible. In addition, they have the ability to move up to 7 ft. with the water.

Rising from the platform will be the main terminal building that will have a steel frame with a curtain wall made of low E glass as the envelope system, said Ivan Ilyashov, a Gruzen Samton partner. The use of glass will enhance the views of New York and will have the effect of making the building glow at night.

The final design has been approved by the owner, N.Y. Waterways, and is undergoing an extensive environmental review. Gruzen said that dredging could begin in fall 2003 with completion coming in 2005. Once it is built, New Jersey Transit will buy the building for $1 and lease it back to NY Waterway to operate.

Historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal
The historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., south of Weehauken, has recently been funded by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The $125 million project will restore the ferry slips at the 1907 building.

As part of an agreement with NJTransit, the PA will provide up to $8 million to pay for the design work for the six slips in the terminal. The PA will also provide an additional $44 million from its capital program, and the Federal Transit Administration will contribute $27 million, which will permit the initial phases to begin.

Work at the terminal will include:

• Reconstruction of a portion of building's substructure and superstructure.
  
• Construction of ferry service ticket offices and a waiting area.
  
• Restoration of the copper fascia and lighting on the exterior of the building.
  
• Waterproofing and insulation of the exterior walls near the ferry slips.
  
• Restoration of the interior finishes of the ferry terminal area.
  
• Utility and marine work to support the ferry operation.

St. George Ferry Terminal
The New York City Economic Development Corp. has put out a $103 million contract to restore the Staten Island Ferry terminal building.

"Right now it feels like a high school gym," said Ken Druker, design director of HOK New York, the project's architect. "The idea is to create a state-of-the-art intermodal terminal that will be the first LEED-certified transportation project in the country."

The work includes the renovation and expansion of the ferry terminal, the creation of a new waiting room, a north terrace connection to a new ballpark and a new front door.

The roof of the terminal building will be raised to transform the main waiting areas into a light and airy space with clerestory windows on all sides to let in natural light. A 40-ft.-high glass wall along the waterside will provide a view of the harbor.

A new curtain wall will replace the existing brick. A new terrazzo floor will be placed in the concourse, a skylight will be added and all new signage will provide real-time information on transit departures.

To obtain LEED certification for the building, a living roof will be placed over the central plant wing, which will be watered by rainwater and pumped by power from photovoltaic cells. A major new feature will be a new gateway arch that will welcome visitors and commuters to Staten Island. "It's iconic, and it's a reference back to the bridges that lead to Staten Island," Druker said.

A new HVAC system will introduce air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. Other new systems will include sprinklers and redundant power.

The project is 40 percent complete.

Whitehall Ferry Terminal
On the other side of the Staten Island Ferry lies the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan. This facility was damaged by a fire in 1992 and is currently undergoing a $145 million phased reconstruction.

"The final phase, phase three, is proceeding," said Mazir Mir, vice president of capital programs for the New York City Economic Development Corp., the project's owner. "Slips two and three are operational and slip one is now being worked on.

"By next year it should be complete, roughly around the same time as the St. George Terminal."

The temporary waiting area is also being demolished to make way for grand, new a 19,000-sq.-ft. waiting area.

Sitework for Peter Minuet Plaza, adjacent to the terminal, is also under way. That work consists of reconfiguring the traffic islands and the connecting streets to safely accommodate pedestrians. And for the first time, a connection to the 1 and 9 trains will be established on the inside of the terminal building.

West Midtown Ferry Terminal at Pier 79
The future home for the $40 million West Midtown Ferry Terminal is Uptown at West 39th Street at Pier 79.

Construction began in January on a new ferry terminal that will wrap around the ventilation towers for the Lincoln Tunnel. "The unique thing is we could not drive piles because the Lincoln Tunnel was below the site," said Mark Patterson, project manager for Skanska USA Building, the project's general contractor.

The developer of the terminal is the New York City Economic Development Corp.

The site previously contained a steel shed that was used for storage and parking of shuttle buses. "We demolished that and we are currently constructing the relieving platform," Patterson said in June. "The actual construction of the 33,450-sq.-ft., two-story, glass enclosed structure will start (later) this summer."

The structure will contain the waiting room, retail, a café, administrative offices, outdoor recreation areas and a taxi/bus drop-off area. Barges will be floated in to create the six ferry slips. The project is expected to be completed in fall 2004.

Ferry Slips
While the bulk of the work will be performed on terminals along the harbor and the Hudson River, there is an approximately $22 million program organized by the EDC to upgrade numerous slips along the East River.

Slips at the Battery Maritime Building, East 34th, East 62nd, East 75th and East 90th streets will be upgraded over the next year.

Farthest south is the Battery Maritime Building, which is undergoing a $2.3 million contract to renovate the entrance and to improve the waiting area, said Paul Januszewski, assistant vice president of NYCEDC. He said that a separate contract has been awarded to renovate the exterior of the building.

At East 34th Street, which Januszewski regards as the hub, a 3,000-sq.-ft. building will be constructed on a renovated pier. The building will include a protected waiting area and passenger amenities. Barges will be installed to create the docking facilities.

For East 62nd and East 75th streets, a barge will be constructed that will attach to the bulkhead.

East 90th Street has an existing pier that was damaged by fire. A new barge with a small shelter and a ticketing booth will be placed by the pier and new lighting and landscaping will be installed at all of the sites.

And in New Jersey, a new slip at the Newport neighborhood of Jersey City just won site approval. The approval helps to pave the way for construction of a 1,500-sq.-ft building near the ventilation tube for the Holland Tunnel.

Future Work
NY Waterway spokesman Smith said the future of ferry travel seems to be bright. He said that the key to ferry travel in the region is dependent on getting people out of their cars.

"One of our most successful new ferry routes is from Belford (N.J.) to the tip of Manhattan," Smith added. "Harry Larrison, the freeholder director, had a vision to seek money for a ferry terminal with a parking lot and then put out a request for proposals from ferry operators. We responded and now we have 2,500 passenger trips a day generated from that route."

He said NY Waterway is looking up the Hudson River for future sites that can provide free or low-cost parking and also are convenient to the Manhattan bus network. The Rockaways are also being looked at, Smith added.

Smith said the Port Authority has a plan on the books to build a terminal building and parking lot along the eastern coast of Staten Island.

"We have clocked a ferry from that location to Pier 11 at Wall Street at 22 minutes," he added.

Although it would be roughly the same route as the Staten Island Ferry, Smith said he does not view it as competition. "We are not in competition with mass transit," he said. "We are trying to get people out of their cars."