Getting back on-track: Exchange Place Station Improvements

The September 11, 2001 attacks on NYC tragically resulted in the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) twin towers. in addition to the horrific lose of life and property damage, the collapse of the towers also destroyed the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) commuter rail station located within the foot print of the WTC site, flooded the two connecting Hudson River tunnels, and closed the Exchange Place Station in New Jersey. Immediately following these events, the Port Authority of NY & NJ (PANYNJ) recognized that restoration of PATH service to lower Manhattan would be vital to recovery efforts and the regional economy, and set in motion plans to rebuild the WTC Station and restore service by November 2003. This paper focuses OD the Exchange Place Station Improvements Project, which required design and construction of underground rock excavations with spans upwards of 18 m (60 ft), rock cover as low as 7.4 m (25 ft), and buildings overlying planned excavations. This project also represents the first use of road-header type excavation equipment and the first application of steel fiber reinforced shotcrete (SFRS) linings for ground support on a mass-transit project in the NYC Metropolitan Region.