Lincoln Tunnel buses detour onto West 39th Street starting Thursday as bus terminal rebuild advances

Bus riders coming into Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel should budget extra time starting Thursday, Oct. 16, when the Port Authority reroutes buses around the first set of ramps it is tearing down to rebuild the Midtown Bus Terminal.

Crews are beginning to remove the existing ramps that carry buses from the tunnel up into the terminal, Gothamist reported. In their place, buses will take a detour through the streets west of the terminal. The agency warned of delays and backups during weekday rush hours for the foreseeable future.

The new route

Buses arriving from the Lincoln Tunnel will keep using the Dyer Avenue bus lane and enter the ramp at Dyer Avenue and 40th Street, according to a Port Authority construction advisory. From there they will be diverted onto a newly built slip ramp that drops them onto West 39th Street. They will head west and re-enter the ramp system near the northeast corner of 39th Street and 10th Avenue.

Just east of 10th Avenue, 39th Street is being split into two lanes so that buses can roll straight into the ramp without stopping at the traffic signal, while local traffic can continue west or turn north on 10th Avenue. Buses that need to circle back to the terminal will use city streets: out at Galvin Plaza, east on 40th Street, south on Ninth Avenue, west on 39th Street and back up the slip ramp, the advisory says.

What changes on West 39th Street

• Drivers: traffic on West 39th Street between Ninth and 10th avenues will be limited to local vehicles serving businesses on the block. The Port Authority suggests 37th or 42nd Street for westbound trips from Ninth Avenue.
• Pedestrians and cyclists: the walkway and the bike lane on 39th Street stay open but shift south to make room for the new layout.
• Evening rush: residents should expect more buses on the corridor, especially from 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. The agency advises extra time on Ninth Avenue between 42nd and 39th streets in the evening peak.
• Traffic agents: the Port Authority says it will station traffic enforcement agents at 40th Street and 10th Avenue, 40th and Dyer, and 40th and Ninth.

Bus carriers and the Port Authority were scheduled to run limited tests of the route from about Oct. 9 to Oct. 15. The agency says dates can change because of weather or field conditions, and riders should check with their bus company for service updates.

A decade of construction

The detour is the start of years of disruption for the roughly 200,000 daily riders who use the 75-year-old terminal, Gothamist reported. The $11 billion replacement comes in two phases. First, the Port Authority will build new ramps, a bus storage and staging facility and a temporary terminal, with the goal of moving operations there by the end of 2030. The existing ramps sit inside the footprint of that temporary terminal, which is why they have to come down now, according to the advisory.

In the second phase, the agency will build the new terminal building, with a target opening in 2035. The Port Authority has promised more bus capacity, new retail and dining, new roadway links meant to ease neighborhood congestion and easier connections to the subway below.

Commuters at the terminal Tuesday told Gothamist they were glad the building is finally being replaced but worried about the construction years. One New Jersey commuter who starts work in Manhattan at 6 a.m. said he expected to be late and was unsure what that would mean for his job.

Project updates and advisories are posted on the Port Authority's bus terminal replacement site, and riders can sign up for alerts by email.