WTC security and emergency response newspaper article

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

“The Holland Tuimel is fine, we’re just waiting for the city to tell us when they’re ready for us to reopen it,” said Steve

Rough go Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority. The Brooklyn-Battery Tuimel

for riders remained closed, with the ex­ ception of express buses. The Brooklyn Bridge was open only Some big changes for pedestrians. All other bridges and timnels are open in

headed both directions. Police kept a close eye on the pedestrian walkways across the coming your way downtown historic span, which“at morning rush hour were eerily quiet. The worst traffic backups oc­ curred on the Gowanus Ex­ By TOM TOPOUSIS The destruction of the Twin Towers by terror­ ists laid waste to a major transportation hub and By TOM TOPOUSIS, pressway. caused by the clos­ will impact the way commuters get to work in BRAD HUNTER ings of the Brooklyn-Battery lower Manhattan for years to come. and LORENA MONGELU Tunnel and the Brooklyn PATH trains that once carried 70,000 New Jer­ Bridge. City officials are plead­ sey commuters a day to the World Trade Center Straphangers heading through ing with drivers to take ferries wUl be lost for years. The 1 and 9 subway lines, the Financial District yesterday or trains. which hauled thousands more downtown, will were stuck in a subway shuffle, also take years to rebuild. forced to switch two and three Two city bus lines, the M15 “We have 1,000 feet of tunnel and a station that times to navigate a makeshift and M103, have been hauling have collapsed,” said Transit Authority spokes­ system. loads of workers into the Finan­ man Al O’Leary. With two major subway sys­ cial District. tems in lower Manhattan down “The only thing that’s hard is The best news is that the N and R lines will for the coimt since the World that there are no designated probably only be closed for weeks. Trade Center disaster, Transit stops and you have to flag the O’Le^ said the N and R, a block east of the 1 Authority engineers worked fe­ buses down,” said Jill Sararese, and 9 lines, weren’t severely damaged. / verishly to reroute commuters an administrative assistant Meanwhile, transportation planners trying to onto little-used lines. from Staten Island. solve the problem of getting people across the “Things seem to be moving rivers are turning to one of the city’s oldest really slowly this morning,” With PATH train service to forms of mass transit: ferries. said a woman inching off a lower Manhattan canceled in­ Ferry ridership across the Hudson has jumped packed train at the Bowling definitely, rail commuters from 50 percent. The city has launched a new East Green station. “I’m sure things New Jersey either took the River ferry linking Brooklyn and Wall Street, will eventually get back to nor- PATH to 33rd Street or joined a mal.” growing number or ferry riders But normal is a long way off. across the river. N and R service is out for More than 50,000 people took what is likely to be weeks, re- Hudson River ferries yesterday, placed by the W and Q_ in Man- a^out 15,000 more than usual, hattan and Queens and 1by the J said New York Waterway and Z in Brooklyn. spokesman Pat Smith. Ferries Meanwhile, the 1 and 9 lines docked at West 38th Street and below Canal Street won’t be Wall Street. running for years — the tunnels “We still have more capacity, collapsed beneath the World if more people want to get out Trade Center. of their cars and take the ferry,” “The prognosis for the 1 and 9 said SmitE is bad,” said TA spokesman Al The New York Waterway O’Leary. “It’s a long-term loss.” ferry remains the only direct O’Leary said the TA stepped link from New Jersey to the up service on the alternate Financial District in lower Man­ routes replacing the N and R. hattan. The W, J and M trains are now Staten Island Ferry ridership running more frequently and was down about 20 percent But around the clock. a new city-operated ferry from Subway ridership yesterday Bay Ridge to the Whitehall Ter­ wasn’t particularly heavy be­ minal was expanded yesterday. cause of the Jewish holiday, More than 1,200 took the free which continues today. TA offi­ ferry on its first day. cials expect their first full-scale In a bid to boost morale rush hour tomorrow morning. among subway riders and tran­ Traffic around the city was sit workers, Gov. Pataki yester­ below normal for a weekday, day rode the 6 train from 51st but backups at the Lincoln Tun­ Street to the Brooklyn Bridge nel reached 90 minutes or more station, where he greeted com­ because of heightened security muters. and the closing of the Holland Tunnel.

NYC-WTC_000152230