Open Penn Station’s Gimbels passageway

Penn station manages 600,000 daily metro and nave that passengers than Laguardia and JFK airports combined. However, despite one of the most vital transport centers in North America, it remains one of the most frustrating.

With the federal government now in charge of the reconstruction of Penn Station, and the Gateway program which has taken full -fledged steam, we have an opportunity once in generation to finally the modernized, safer and more accessible transit center on the western side of Manhattan that we have deserved since they demolished the original building.

Penn Station is an essential link in our regional transport network, and modernization has been expected for a long time. A redesigned station will reduce delays, will improve reliability and lay the foundations for an extended service in the region. The project will create thousands of well -paid union jobs, will stimulate economic activity and better connect the surrounding communities of New Jersey to Long Island.

But whatever the plan for Penn himself, there is an additional connection that the new station will have to make to put the icing on the cake. It is a means of connecting the six metro lines of Penn, the long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Njtransit (NJT) (and soon Metro-North Railroad) as well as Amtrak, with the eight metro lines of Herald Square and the path. And it was just under our noses – and the feet – throughout.

Right now, going from Penn to Herald Square means fighting through some of the most congestioned sidewalks in America, the rain or the sun. But there has been a long -forgotten tunnel for a long time under the 33rd street which once helped to fuel the daily rhythm of New York.

The passage of Gimbels, a 800 -foot pedestrian tunnel has closed its doors since the 1980s due to safety problems and maintenance challenges, once linked the seventh avenue lines to the lines of the sixth avenue. A signaling is still visible, if you know where to look for.

The reopening of this passage would eliminate around 100,000 daily transfers to the surface. The more it does not go upstairs and crosses a lively street just to end your trip. Have you seen Seventh Ave. After a Knicks match? Why make people play falls and ladders when they can simply continue to walk in a straight line underground? The suburban flow instantly improves with a single movement.

It would be a small project on the scale of the wider redevelopment of Penn, but with disproportionate advantages. It is an intelligent and short -term investment that completes greater efforts of expansion and modernization already underway. And the profitability analysis for the reopening of the cardanals is convincing: every minute saved in the journey time results in a measurable economic value. The regional plan association estimates that public transport delays cost the New York Metropolitan Region 20 billion dollars a year in productivity.

The reopening of this corridor is a clear reminder of what is possible when we build infrastructure that meets the needs of New Yorkers. And this is a case study to know why Penn’s redevelopment for a long time must go ahead.

Improvements like the LIRR corridor have helped spectacularly, but many parts remain dark, congestioned and disjointed. The underground passages were once part of the way in which the Penn station facilitated the safe and effective movement of New Yorkers across the city. But budget cracks and security problems have closed them in a New York very different from what we know today. It is now clear that these decisions were short -sighted.

We have already reversed bad calls, such as the reopening of the high bridge after 45 years, and other examples of this already exists. Large Terminal Central still has a network of pedestrian tunnels which connect the shuttle to Midtown buildings. The Hilton passage to Penn Station always connects the Amtrak and Lirr runners to metro lines n ° 1, 2 and 3. These types of connections accessible on foot improves a better complex city function.

But the window for the action closes quickly. Federal funding from Penn Station will not last forever, and construction costs only increase with delays. MTA and Amtrak are already coordinate major renovations. The addition of unit cardana now has a financial meaning – renovating it later would exponentially cost more.

This is not nostalgia for Old New York. This is an investment in intelligent infrastructure which pays dividends for decades. The tunnel exists. Engineering is simple. The only question is whether we have the vision of connecting the points.

Entrepreneurs, engineers and skilled workers represented by the New York Construction Congress are ready to tackle this project. The commuters deserve secure connections and protected by bad weather. All pieces are aligned, with the exception of political will.

The reopening of the passage of the gimbels will not solve each problem of Penn station, but it is the kind of practical and high impact investment that separates the cities that adapt from the cities that stagnate. The tunnel is there. The need is clear. Crétons.

Scissura is president and chief executive officer of the New York Building Congress.