The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 167

Fiterman Hall is nearly complete. The exterior is essentially completed and interior spaces are being prepared for a fall opening. That's tremendous news for the CCNY, which has been craving the space since they were forced out after 9/11 left the original building seriously damaged and contaminated.

Meanwhile, Santiago Calatrava's signature PATH transit hub should start to rise above street level in coming weeks. The final shape of the structure has been completed, and while it will be several more years before it is fully open to the public, the nearly $4 billion hub is making progress.

If that $4 billion figure seems high, it should. The transit hub was originally expected to cost $2.2 billion, but has steadily risen even as the delays have mounted.

The costs for the transit hub are one of the main reasons that the Port Authority has needed to raise tolls and fares - it's a huge blow to its budget and it has to recoup those costs. AAA has been suing the Port Authority claiming that the toll hikes were being used to fund rebuilding of non-transportation components of the rebuilding efforts.

Work on the Vehicle Security Center, which is being built on the site of the former Deutsche Bank Building is continuing as steel is being erected below street level (and partially visible from PATH as it winds underground adjacent to the work site.

That comes as 4WTC has been topped out and work is progressing elsewhere on the site except at the WTC museum, which continues to be subject to ongoing acrimony between the memorial foundation and the Port Authority. The fighting comes amid yet more demands that the National Park Service take over the memorial and museum operations, and that's a move that I'd fully support - though I still blame the Port Authority for the ongoing delays at the museum and elsewhere on the site.

Elsewhere near the World Trade Center, a Morton's Steakhouse will be coming to 130 Cedar Street, which overlooks the Trade Center site.

In more ominous news, Egypt's newly elected President, Mohamad Morsi is reportedly expected to call for the release of 1993 WTC Bombing mastermind Sheikh Abdel Rahman.

AAA Files Suit Against Port Authority For Toll Hikes

Well, AAA finally decided that writing letters to the Port Authority to the Department of Transportation wasn't going to roll back the massive fare and toll hikes imposed by the Port Authority.

It's decided to file suit against the agency claiming that the fare and toll hikes are for items unrelated to transportation infrastructure.

The AAA (triple-A) is suing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey over recent toll hikes.

The motorists' group filed the lawsuit today in Manhattan federal court.

It's trying to stop the agency from collecting the higher tolls on its bridges and tunnels linking the two states.

The Port Authority declined comment.

The motorists group says it objects to using toll revenues for building the new World Trade Center. Port Authority board members have said the fare increases will pay for construction that's fueling the region's economy.

That follows a suit filed by a New Jersey man against the agency, claiming that the agency failed to provide sufficient notice of the fare and toll hikes.

I don't give the notice claims much chance given the way that media outlets highlighted the pending hikes and notices of meetings. The AAA has a better chance if they focus on the constitutionality of imposing massive hikes on interstate commerce - for crossing between New York and New Jersey.

AAA Looks To Block Port Authority Toll and Fare Hikes

The New York affiliate of AAA, which is one of the largest membership groups in the country, is looking to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to block the Port Authority's massive toll hikes that are scheduled to take effect this weekend.

The group thinks that it might be able to sway LaHood and the Port Authority because some of the funds raised from the toll hikes are going to the World Trade Center rebuilding efforts, and not to transportation infrastructure which is required under a 1989 law.

The auto club's New York, New Jersey, and Mid-Atlantic chapters says a federal court ruled in 1989 that tolls must be used to pay for facilities that have a close and functional relationship with bridges and tunnels, and that should not include rebuilding at the World Trade Center.

"We think that increasing tolls to pay for cost overruns at the World Trade Center violates that legal decision and will impede interstate commerce, and establish and new and ill-conceived policy of diverting toll revenues to local real estate development projects," said Robert Sinclair Jr. of AAA New York.

However, AAA has not pursued any legal action to block the Port Authority's toll hikes.

Starting Sunday, cash tolls on the George Washington Bridge, Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Goethals Bridge, Bayonne Bride and Outerbridge Crossing are scheduled to rise from $8 to $12.

Peak-hour tolls for E-ZPass users will go from $8 to $9.50.

Tolls are set to rise to $15 by December 2015 after a series of increases.

PATH fares will increase Sunday from $1.75 to $2.

The strongest argument to block the toll hikes is that the massive hikes, particularly on truck traffic, is a violation of the Commerce Clause and impedes interstate commerce.

However, the agency can argue that the tolls are supporting major infrastructure improvements, including a rebuilding of the Lincoln Tunnel helix, replacement of hangers on the George Washington Bridge, completion of the PATH terminal at WTC, and raising the Bayonne Bridge for improved port access.

The thing is that the argument about the Port Authority being in the real estate business is one of the drivers that got Larry Silverstein into the whole WTC rebuilding effort; the Port Authority was looking to get out of the real estate business when it agreed to give Silverstein a 99 year lease on the WTC property just months before the 9/11 attacks.

The Port Authority shouldn't be in the real estate business and it should be focused exclusively on improving port access, transportation, and infrastructure.

For its part, the AAA has not brought a legal action against the Port Authority to block the imposition of the fare and toll hike.