Water Transport

Ship Comes in for Local Ferry Projects

by Jason Fargo

The New York region has rediscovered the commuting potential of the water.

Across Westchester County, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Long Island Sound, plans are brewing to build more ferry terminals - most that will help to shuttle workers to and from Manhattan.

The region has more than a dozen lines, including New York City's venerable Staten Island Ferry and long-operated routes serving New Jersey's Atlantic seaboard communities. Over the past decade, numerous smaller private services have hit the water as residential communities sprouted on former industrial sites on New Jersey's Hudson River waterfront and as unused piers in Brooklyn and Queens got new life as ferry stops.

Last year was a particularly strong year for the region's water-travel rebirth. Two major facilities opened for business on opposite sides of the Hudson River - the $40 million West Midtown Ferry Terminal at Pier 79 on West 39th Street, built by New York City's Economic Development Corp. and Department of Transportation, and the $38 million Port Imperial Intermodal Ferry Terminal in Weehawken, N.J., built by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and New York Waterway, a ferry operator.

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The development of Battery Park in the 1980s, followed in the 1990s by massive redevelopment of the New Jersey waterfront facing Manhattan, is leading a transformation from industrial-age relics to prime residential real estate. Development projects already under way or in planning will further populate areas close to the Hudson and East rivers, including thousands of new residential units planned at the Newport development in Jersey City, N.J., and at the Queens West development in the Long Island City district of Queens.

Local planning authorities see ferries as an integral feature of this riverside renaissance, said Paul Januszewski, vice president for waterfront transportation at the New York City Economic Development Corp.

"As new projects have been developed on the waterfront, there's more need for better access," he added.

Now, proposals to expand, upgrade, or construct ferry landing facilities are afoot in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester County, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Most of the projects are being built with public funds, intended to serve as stops for privately operated ferry lines, based on the model of bus terminals in most cities, said Mal McLaren, president of McLaren Engineering in West Nyack, N.Y.

The plans are in various stages of development or design. Construction projects are active at the Hoboken Ferry Terminal in Hoboken, N.J., the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan, and at a historic pier in Yonkers, N.Y.

Close behind is an effort by New York City's EDC to incorporate a ferry landing in the development of West Harlem Piers, an $18.7 million riverfront esplanade along the Hudson in Manhattan that broke ground last fall and is slated for completion next year.

Another area that may add ferry landings is Long Island Sound. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, a regional association, has been studying possible ferry routes between Connecticut and the northern shore of Long Island, while the city of Glen Cove, N.Y., on that shore is already planning a new ferry terminal as part of a larger effort to revitalize its waterfront.

One reason for the surge in interest in ferries is the sheer congestion that exists today on the region's roads and rails. Within New York City's five boroughs alone there were 8.17 million people as of July 2004, an increase of more than 160,000 people since 2000, according to the New York City Department of City Planning. By 2010, the department predicts a rise to 8.4 million.

Meanwhile, projects to add new road and rail links from the suburbs to the city are increasingly cost-prohibitive, and they compete for dollars with badly needed rehabilitation projects for the region's infrastructure, McLaren said. He cited the six options under review by New York state authorities to add new commuter rail lines and rebuild the Tappan Zee Bridge crossing the Hudson River between Westchester and Rockland counties - alternatives that cost up to $15 billion - as well as a $5 billion plan for a new passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson between New Jersey and Manhattan.

By contrast, the investment necessary for new ferry routes is relatively modest, whether for bare-bones landings or bigger terminals, McLaren said.

"The nondescript, plain brown wrapper floating barge is less than $1 million," he added. "And then [large floating] ferry terminals are in the $40-50 million range."

McLaren said that ferry projects often entail some other costs, such as "landside improvements" for transferring passengers from other modes of transportation, such as vehicle parking or connections to a light rail system.

"When this works well, it's integrated within the transportation network," he added. "[It is not costly] unless you need major road expansions. I can move a lot of people by water for $1 billion."

While ferries may not have the capacity - or currently have enough passenger demand - to transport as many people as buses, trains, or highways in the region, McLaren said the boats can nevertheless have a significant impact.

"The potential is hundreds of thousands of passengers," he said, noting that some ferry boats hold 400 people.

Making Ferries a Prime Destination

As part of the overall upgrade of the region's riverfronts, some of the current terminals are designed to be showpieces - particularly the new West Midtown and Port Imperial ferry terminals facing each other across the Hudson.

Similarly, in February 2005 municipal officials in New York opened the new Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan, a $201 million facility that serves as the northern terminus for the Staten Island Ferry. The 200,000-sq.-ft. terminal has 6,000 sq. ft. of concession space, a 19,000 sq. ft. waiting area, and a 75-ft.-high entry hall with a glass façade that gives commuters a view of the city skyline.

The city also fully refurbished the line's other terminus at the St. George Ferry Terminal on the Staten Island side. The $140 million project also finished last spring.

Now, the city's EDC is including the rehabilitation of ferry docking space in an ongoing project to restore and upgrade the Battery Maritime Building, a 1909 structure whose façade is notable for its ornate ornamentation in cast iron and copper.

In September, Tishman Construction, a New York-based construction manager, and ICS Builders, a New York-based general contractor, completed the replacement of almost all the exterior cladding on the building. Tishman is now refurbishing the terminal's interior on a design by Jan Hird Pokorny Associates of New York.

Tishman is also overseeing the reconstruction of Hoboken's landmark ferry terminal [see sidebar]. The restoration is part of a 10-year project in which Tishman also restored the adjacent 1907 Hoboken Terminal train station. The $94 million ferry rehabilitation project will be complete in 2008.

Farther up the Hudson in Yonkers, Holt Construction of Pearl River, N.Y., is renovating a two-story Victorian-era pier to accommodate ferry service. The $3 million effort involves enclosing the 160-ft.-long pier's upper floor so it can be built out as a restaurant, said Jim Pinto, waterfront development director for Yonkers. Work began last fall and should be completed by this autumn.

Other new ferry facilities are also in the works around the region, though some are modest in scope.

"'Terminal' in most cases is too grand a word," said Jonathan Goldstick, senior vice president at New York-based HPA Engineers, which handled marine engineering work the Battery Maritime project and the West Midtown terminal. "We do have a few terminals, but mostly they're simple ferry landings."

In many cases, the landings consist of a barge held in place with piles and connected to the mainland by a ramp, Goldstick said. HPA recently designed such a bare-bones ferry stop at Fulton Landing in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.

Other simple landings have been built at several locations along the Jersey City and Hoboken waterfront. These landings are mainly geared to serve residents who are within walking distance of each location.

However, even smaller ferry landings are today being designed with an eye toward making them more enjoyable for passengers, McLaren said.

"We now have waiting rooms and concession areas," he said. "The early ones were 'Wait outside' or 'Wait in that trailer over there.' Now we have more elegant waiting rooms and conveniences."

The New York City EDC is taking that small-but-functional approach with ferry landings it plans to build at East 34th Street and East 90th Street on the East River in Manhattan, Januszewski said. The 34th Street facility will likely have some type of terminal structure, while other landings will have less elaborate shelters.

"I would say that, generally speaking, we're trying to make the landings more comfortable, provide more passenger amenities," Januszewski added.

Security for these facilities is another design consideration since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Januszewski said. To that end, elements such as security cameras and bollards to prevent vehicles from approaching the landings are being incorporated into new designs.

In addition, he said that federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements often dictate significant modifications to existing piers being re-enlisted into modern service, including the slope of access ramps connecting ferry landings to dry land.

Overall, the rebirth of waterborne transport service is opening a potentially big market for ferry terminal construction, McLaren said. There are plenty of prime, yet untouched areas.

"There are many more vessels on the water than there used to be, but you go into Long Island Sound or the south shore of Long Island, and it's hardly even touched," he added. "We could be running ferries to Coney Island. We could be running ferries to Great South Bay."