Public Meeting Scheduled to Discuss Ongoing GW Bridge Bus Station Renovation

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Uptown politicians have scheduled a public meeting to answer locals' questions about the long-stalled George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal renovation project. The meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 9, according to a flier posted by City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.

The meeting will be co-hosted by Rodriguez, State Assembly Member Carmen De La Rosa, State Senator Marisol Alcantara and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

The $183 million renovation of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, first proposed eight years ago, was supposed to be completed by the end of 2016, but the construction is still ongoing. The project's developers — George Washington Bridge Bus Station Development Venture — were scheduled to appear before the public in December for the Community Board's executive meeting but the meeting was postponed, the board's chair Shah Ally told Patch.

"The meeting will have more of a meaning after the Board has a chance to see first hand the progress of the project," Ally told Patch in an email.

Earlier in January City Councilman Rodriguez took a tour of the George Washington Bridge construction zone with other elected officials and members of Community Board 12, according to a social media post.

Construction on the bus terminal — located on a two-block stretch between West 178th and 179th streets and Fort Washington and Wadsworth avenues — began in 2014 after years of delay due to the recession and damage brought by Hurricane Sandy.

A spokesman for the George Washington Bridge Bus Station Development Venture, the private developer working with the Port Authority on the project, told Metro that construction challenges could push the project's completion back as far as April.

Photo courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey