PATH train shut down; How to avoid the rush-hour nightmare for Barack Obama’s visit

The President’s visit to 1 World Trade Center today couldn’t come at a worse time: Right smack dab in the middle of the evening rush hour.

Barack Obama and the First Lady are due at 1 World Trade Center at about 5:15 today.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced yesterday they are shutting down the World Trade Center PATH from 3 to 6 p.m. today.

The PATH on the WTC line will only run from between Newark and Grove Street. However, the 33rd Street PATH line will be running normally. So customers should get to Penn Station and take the PATH from there. Also, PATH trains that normally run between Hoboken and the World Trade Center will now be going from Hoboken to Journal Square.

PATH will be running as many extra trains as possible from Journal Square and Hoboken to 33rd Street during the closure.

There are no plans yet to shut down any lines on the New York City subway system and all service out of Lower Manhattan is expected to run normally.

However, be advised that that could change at any moment today.

“If the Secret Service tells us to shut down the subways we do it,” an MTA spokesman told Metro.

NJ Transit out of Penn Station will also be cross-honoring PATH tickets for all trips back to New Jersey.

If you take the PATH from Exchange Place, you will need to make the 10-block walk to Grove Street.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg will meet the President, the First Lady, Governors Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo and Port Authority Chairman David Samson today for the World Trade Center tour.

After the tour of the World Trade Center site, the President and First Lady will dine at a $80,000-per-couple fundraising dinner at Sarah Jessica Parker’s townhouse in the West Village.