WTC Rebuilding Schedule Gets New Roadmap

Berger continues that "getting it done right on this timetable will require leadership from both the public and private sectors." The revised timeline and budgets are the result of extensive, intense efforts during the past three months to look at every element of every project with the goal of providing aggressive yet realistic schedules and budgets, the Port Authority says in a statement. The report outlined resolutions of 15 key issues that have hindered rebuilding progress in the past, and for the first time provides intermediate milestones and will allow the public to track progress on the site.

Some key findings include:

• To ensure the Memorial Plaza will open on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Port Authority developed a construction solution that allows the roof of the WTC Transportation Hub's mezzanine to be built first instead of last as had been originally programmed. That roof will serve as the floor of the Memorial Plaza and allow the project to be accelerated.
• Due to "active, ongoing construction" that will occur on the WTC site after 2011, the Port Authority will work with the Memorial Foundation and the City to "ensure safe, controlled access to the Memorial after Sept. 11, 2011."
• Construction of the WTC Transportation Hub has been significantly simplified through the strategic placement of columns and other conventional elements, while retaining the iconic design of architect Santiago Calatrava. This simplified design will save time, money and reduce construction risk.
• The increased cost of One World Trade Center, the Freedom Tower, is due to price escalation and project changes, including increasing the size of the observation deck from one to two levels and reducing the restaurant to one level to accommodate the projected number of visitors to the rooftop location.
• A series of resolutions, including the settling of a land claim with St. Nicholas Church and a security agreement with the City of New York, that will allow the Vehicle Security Center to be built in a more timely fashion.

• As GlobeSt.com previously reported, the assessment report was requested by Gov. David Paterson to identify key roadblocks to moving forward the WTC rebuilding in a faster and more cost effective way. The initial assessment, released in June, laid out 15 unresolved issues that would need to be addressed before accurate schedules and budgets could be developed. Although significant progress has been made in the rebuilding efforts, the Port Authority did previously admit that there were significant delays and cost overruns.

Barry LePatner, a construction cost management specialist, author, and construction attorney, tells GlobeSt.com that he thinks there will be many more cost overruns in the foreseeable future, and still has some concerns about the construction process. The Port Authority should be "taken to task for having announced plans of the transportation center without having fully developed a comprehensive program for the entire project," he says. "The P.A. clearly acted too quickly to appease the politicians who were looking to feed off any news of work to be done at ground zero and who also ignored the reality of the complex of site conditions that miligate against an early understanding of what the true scope of the project was." The Port Authority did not respond or comment on LePatner's comments by deadline.

LePatner worries that the Port Authority "has no history of building such large scale infrastructure projects and has meandered across the spectrum of mistakes in the design and construction process." He says that by never securing a fixed-price contract for the center "the Port Authority played to the strong hand of the construction industry by breaking the project into a series of discrete projects, none of which truly was based on a fixed-price contract that allowed cost overruns to run amok."

To date, LePatner says, the Port Authority should "halt the project and ensure that a complete scope of work is agreed to on full design documents and secure a true fixed price that can be announced once and for all." Another industry source tells GlobeSt.com that "if this was a private sector development going on today, that would definitely be the case," in response to LePatner's comment.

In any event, the Port Authority's report noted that the agency is committed to continued public accountability on the rebuilding, and will, for the first time, offer a series of intermediate milestones that need to be met to deliver the projects by their revised completion dates. Jones Lang LaSalle, who reps Port Authority on the project, was unable to answer GlobeSt.com queries by deadline or respond to LePatner's concerns.

Port Authority executive director Chris Ward says in a prepared statement that "this report allows us to say with certainty what we're building, who's building it, when it will be built and for how much. By working with our project partners to resolve all 15 fundamental issues, we've brought a level of certainty and control that this rebuilding effort has been missing for too long. Going forward, with this new level of certainty and with our continued commitment to be open, honest and accountable, I am confident that we can deliver on the promise of a rebuilt World Trade Center and a renewed Lower Manhattan."