Designed by the Italian architect-engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the new bus station was hailed as a robust tour-de-force of infrastructure ingenuity by leading critics of the day.

"[3] The terminal was first proposed in 1955, following earlier attempts to construct a bus station at the George Washington Bridge's eastern end.

A major renovation, including an expansion of retail space from 30,000 to 120,000 square feet (3,000 to 11,000 m2), was announced in 2008; the project began in late 2013 and was expected to cost more than US$183 million.

[4][5] The station is built over the Trans-Manhattan Expressway (Interstate 95) between 178th and 179th Streets and Fort Washington and Wadsworth Avenues, and features direct bus ramps on and off the upper level of the bridge.

[7] Early plans for the terminal indicate that it contained 10 platforms for suburban buses on its top level, which collectively had 36 loading positions.

[8] The building is constructed of huge steel-reinforced concrete trusses, fourteen of which are cantilevered from supports in the median of the Trans-Manhattan Expressway, which it straddles.

[14] As early as 1952, the PANYNJ (at the time the Port of New York Authority) had proposed widening a one-block stretch of 178th Street between Fort Washington Avenue and Broadway and creating a bus terminal there.

[17] The Port Authority would have to relocate 10,000 families to make way for the bus terminal and connecting ramps,[18][19] prompting opposition from the area's U.S. representative, Herbert Zelenko.

[20] The Port Authority announced in March 1960 that it had hired Nervi to design a three-story, $13 million bus terminal above the Trans-Manhattan Expressway.

[8] The Port Authority awarded a $9.6 million contract that December to the W. J. Barney Corporation and William L. Crow Company for the construction of the terminal's roof.

[29][30] After passengers complained that the terminal's open-air design let in cold air, the Port Authority approved the installation of a retractable plastic membrane in August 1963 at a cost of $200,000.

[35] The PANYNJ hired developer McCann Real Equities in July 1999 to study the feasibility of erecting a multiplex cinema above the bus station.

[38][43] The agency announced in July 2011 that the project would proceed after the PANYNJ signed an agreement with a consortium of developers who would lease the terminal's retail space for 99 years.

[45][46] Large tenants like Marshalls, Key Food, and Blink Fitness leased some of the terminal's retail space before the renovation began.

[55][56] GWBBS Development Venture LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that October, in part because of the delays, cost overruns, and arbitration proceedings with Tutor Perini.

[59] NYCRC sued the PANYNJ in 2021, claiming that the agency was trying to wipe out the firm's investment in the terminal by interfering with the planned sale of the retail leasehold.

[65] A pedestrian tunnel, maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, links the bus terminal to the subway station.

[70][71] Ten local MTA Regional Bus Operations routes stop at a lower level and on the streets outside the station.