Port authority begins work on ground zero transit station

Nearly four years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks destroyed the Port Authority Trans-Hudson’s (PATH) World Trade Center rail terminal, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is beginning to rebuild the facility.

The authority broke ground this week on a new transportation hub in lower Manhattan.

The facility will be completed in 2009, at which time it will serve an estimated 80,000 passengers a day, replacing a temporary PATH station that opened in 2003.

The hub will link PATH service with subway lines and the World Financial Center Ferry terminal, with plans for other connections, such as a rail system to John F. Kennedy International Airport, still being considered.

The Federal Transit Administration is providing $1.9 billion for this $2.2. billion project.