Ranking the Plans to Remake Penn Station

There have been many attempts to redesign Penn Station, but not all of them were created equal.

1 minute read

February 2, 2020, 7:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


New York City Transit Station

Michael715 / Shutterstock

"Penn Station, optimistically built to handle 200,000 passengers a day, now has to contend with more than triple that number," explains Justin Davidson to introduce the giant planning challenges that have stymied repeated attempts to revamp the busy transit hub in New York City.

"Fixing Penn has been a fond dream for decades, but each attempt has foundered on the shoals of inertia, conflicting agendas, and shortsightedness," adds Davidson, before launching into a ranked history of Penn Station planning attempts—13 in all, ranked from worst to better ("'Best' is still out of reach," according to Davidson).

The most recent plan, the Cuomo+PAU combo, announced at the beginning of 2020, ranks first on the list.

Sunday, February 2, 2020 in New York

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