Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of "World Trade Center (1973–2001)"

⭐ In the context of the World Trade Center, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is considered to have taken what significant action in the years leading up to its destruction?

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⭐ Core Definition: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized by the United States Congress. The Port Authority oversees much of the regional transportation infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, airports, and seaports, within the geographical jurisdiction of the Port of New York and New Jersey. This 1,500-square-mile (3,900 km) port district is generally encompassed within a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. The Port Authority is headquartered at 4 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

The Port Authority operates the Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, which consistently ranks among the largest ports in the United States by tonnage handled, and the largest on the Eastern Seaboard. The Port Authority also operates six bi-state crossings: three connecting New Jersey with Manhattan, and three connecting New Jersey with Staten Island. The Port Authority Bus Terminal and the PATH rail system are also run by the Port Authority, as well as LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro Airport, and Stewart International Airport. The agency has its own 2,100 member Port Authority Police Department.

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👉 Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of World Trade Center (1973–2001)

The original World Trade Center (WTC) was a complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Built primarily between 1966 and 1975, it was dedicated on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed on September 11, 2001. The complex included the 110-story-tall Twin Towers, at the time of their completion the tallest buildings in the world, with the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) at 1,368 feet (417 m), and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower) at 1,362 feet (415.1 m); they were also the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world until 1996, when the Petronas Towers opened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The other buildings in the complex were the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC, 5 WTC, 6 WTC, and 7 WTC. The complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m) of office space and, prior to its completion, was projected to accommodate an estimated 130,000 people.

The core complex cost about $400 million (equivalent to $2.37 billion in 2024). David Rockefeller suggested the construction of a large office building complex to help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, and his brother Nelson, then New York's 49th governor, signed the legislation to build it. The buildings at the complex were designed by Minoru Yamasaki. In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to privatize it by leasing the buildings to a private company to manage. It awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001. During its existence, the World Trade Center symbolized globalization and the economic power and prosperity of the United States. Although its design was initially criticized by New Yorkers and architectural critics, the Twin Towers became an icon of New York City. It had a major role in popular culture, and according to one estimate was depicted in 472 films. The Twin Towers were also used in Philippe Petit's tightrope-walking performance on August 7, 1974. Following the September 11 attacks, mentions of the complex in various media were altered or deleted, and several dozen "memorial films" were created.

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In this Dossier

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of New York City Subway stations

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system that serves four of the five boroughs of New York City, New York: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Its operator is the New York City Transit Authority, which is itself controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York. In 2015, an average of 5.65 million passengers used the system daily, making it the busiest rapid transit system in the United States and the 11th busiest in the world.

The present New York City Subway system is composed of three formerly separate systems that merged in 1940: the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), and the Independent Subway System (IND). The privately held IRT, founded in 1902, constructed and operated the first underground railway line in New York City. The opening of the first line on October 27, 1904, is commonly cited as the opening of the modern New York City Subway, although some elevated lines of the IRT and BMT that were initially incorporated into the New York City Subway system but then demolished predate this. The oldest sections of elevated lines still in operation were built in 1885. The BMT, founded in 1923 and also privately held, was formed from the bankruptcy of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The IND was created by the City of New York in 1921 to be a municipally owned competitor of the two private companies. Unification in June 1940 by the New York City Board of Transportation brought the three systems under one operator. The New York City Transit Authority, created in 1953 to be a public benefit corporation that acquired the rapid transit and surface line (buses and streetcars) infrastructure of the Board of Transportation, remains the operator of the New York City Subway today.

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of Lower Manhattan Expressway

Interstate 78 (I-78) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to New York City. In the US state of New York, I-78 extends 12 mile (800 m). The entirety of I-78 consists of the Holland Tunnel, which crosses under the Hudson River from New Jersey and ends at an exit rotary in Lower Manhattan. The tunnel and its approaches are maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).

I-78 was planned to take a longer route when the Interstate System within New York City was originally proposed in the late 1950s. The proposed route of I-78 was to head east via the Williamsburg Bridge to John F. Kennedy International Airport and then north over the Throgs Neck Bridge to I-95 in the Bronx. One unbuilt section of I-78, the Lower Manhattan Expressway, would have connected the Holland Tunnel to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. Another unbuilt section, the Cross-Brooklyn and Bushwick Expressways, would have extended southeast across Brooklyn, connecting to what is now the Nassau Expressway (New York State Route 878 or NY 878). A third section would have connected the Nassau Expressway, at the southern edge of Queens near JFK Airport, to the southern end of what is now I-295, in central Queens. Due to opposition from the communities along the expressways' routes, these sections of I-78 were never built, and I-78 does not connect to I-278 or to any of its other auxiliary routes.

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of George Washington Bridge

The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George Washington, a Founding Father of the United States and the country's first president. The George Washington Bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, carrying a traffic volume of over 104 million vehicles in 2019, and is the world's only suspension bridge with 14 vehicular lanes. The George Washington Bridge measures 4,760 feet (1,450 m) long, and its main span is 3,500 feet (1,100 m) long. It was the longest main bridge span in the world from its 1931 opening until the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened in 1937.

The bridge is informally known as the GW Bridge, the GWB, the GW, or the George, and was known as the Fort Lee Bridge or Hudson River Bridge during construction. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state government agency that operates infrastructure in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is an important travel corridor within the New York metropolitan area. It has an upper level that carries four lanes in each direction and a lower level with three lanes in each direction, for a total of 14 lanes of travel. The speed limit on the bridge is 45 mph (72 km/h). The bridge's upper level also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Interstate 95 (I-95) and U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9, composed of US 1 and US 9) cross the river via the bridge. U.S. Route 46 (US 46), which lies entirely within New Jersey, terminates halfway across the bridge at the state border with New York. At its eastern terminus in New York City, the bridge continues onto the Trans-Manhattan Expressway (part of I-95, connecting to the Cross Bronx Expressway).

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of Newark Liberty International Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport (IATA: EWR, ICAO: KEWR, FAA LID: EWR) is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of downtown Newark and 9 miles (14 km) west-southwest of Manhattan, it is a major gateway to destinations in Europe, South America, Asia, and Oceania. It is jointly owned by the two cities, and the airport itself is leased to its operator, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It is the second-busiest airport in the New York airport system behind John F. Kennedy International Airport and ahead of LaGuardia Airport.

The airport is near the Newark Airport Interchange, the junction between both Interstate 95 and Interstate 78 (both of which are components of the New Jersey Turnpike), and U.S. Routes 1 and 9, which has junctions with U.S. Route 22, Route 81, and Route 21. AirTrain Newark connects the terminals with the Newark Liberty International Airport Railway Station. The station is served by NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor Line and North Jersey Coast Line. Amtrak's Northeast Regional and Keystone Service routes also make stops at the station.

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal

Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal, a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey, is the principal container ship facility for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan area and the northeastern quadrant of North America.

Located on Newark Bay, the facility is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Its two components, Port Newark and the Elizabeth Marine Terminal (sometimes called Port Elizabeth) sit side by side within the cities of Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, just east of the New Jersey Turnpike and Newark Liberty International Airport.

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of Marriott World Trade Center

The New York Marriott World Trade Center, also known as 3 World Trade Center (3 WTC), was a 22-story, 825-room hotel in New York City, within the original World Trade Center complex in downtown Manhattan. It opened in April 1981 as the Vista International Hotel, the first major hotel since 1836 to open in Manhattan south of Canal Street.

The hotel was damaged in the World Trade Center bombing by al-Qaeda terrorists on February 26, 1993. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey considered demolishing the building, but instead decided to repair it. The building's structure was reinforced, and it re-opened in November 1994. In November 1995, it was bought by Marriott Corporation and renamed the New York Marriott World Trade Center.

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Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the context of 7 World Trade Center (1987–2001)

7 World Trade Center (7 WTC, WTC-7, or Tower 7), colloquially known as Building 7 or the Salomon Brothers Building, was an office building constructed as part of the original World Trade Center Complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The tower was located on a city block bounded by West Broadway, Vesey Street, Washington Street, and Barclay Street on the east, south, west, and north, respectively. It was developed by Larry Silverstein, who held a ground lease for the site from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and designed by Emery Roth & Sons. It was destroyed during the September 11 attacks due to structural damage caused by fires. It experienced a period of almost free-fall, total collapse acceleration lasting approximately 2.25 seconds during its 5.4-second collapse, as acknowledged in the NIST final report.

The original 7 World Trade Center was 47 stories tall, clad in red granite masonry, and occupied a trapezoidal footprint. An elevated walkway spanning Vesey Street connected the building to the World Trade Center plaza. The building was situated above a Consolidated Edison power substation, which imposed unique structural design constraints. The building opened in 1987, and Salomon Brothers signed a long-term lease the next year, becoming the anchor tenant of 7 WTC.

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