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WTC delays keep Cortlandt Street closed

By Matthew Sweeney | msweeney@am-ny.com

9:15 PM EDT, June 30, 2008

Long delays at the World Trade Center site mean straphangers will have to wait longer for the closed Cortlandt Street station on the 1 train to re-open.

Destroyed on 9/11, along with a section of subway tunnel, the station remains as an unadorned box waiting for reconstruction.

"The completion of that construction will be tied to the site as a whole, so we'll be working with the Port Authority to get things done as quickly as we can," said Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Jeremy Soffin.

With word yesterday that cost overruns and delays may force the Port Authority to further scale back its plans for the World Trade Center transit hub, any hope of the Cortlandt Street station reopening soon was diminished.

"It's the most convenient way for tourists headed for the World Trade Center site," said Gene Russianoff, lead attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. "And the stop where they should get off is closed."

The nearby Cortlandt Street R and W station is also closed while the MTA rebuilds the Fulton Street Transit Center, another project that is overdue and over budget.