After $1.4 billion and a decade of construction, New York City opened a it's biggest subway hub, the Fulton Center, in lower Manhattan on Monday.

The lavish transit and retail hub open its doors early Monday morning, connecting commuters to nine subway lines: the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, J, Z and R, and providing them with a diverse array of stores and restaurants. It is expected to accommodate up to 300,000 daily riders, reports My Fox NY. Plus, the modernized station is equipped with digital signage and 340 security cameras.

Unlike the old dark station, the new spacious hub also includes an oculus, which allows natural light to pour into the atrium, and 27 handicap-accessible entrances. Eventually, it will incude an underground walkway connection to the World Trade Center.

"I don't think you can overstate the importance of great public spaces like this to a city like ours," said MTA Chairman Tom Prendergrast, according to WABC-TV. "Great cities like New York need great public spaces to grow and to thrive," said Prendergast. "They create community, they're our brand, and they define our city."

Likewise, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer boasted about the Fulton Center, reports the Associated Press.

"It shows you how New York City can always reinvent itself and get better," said Schumer, adding that in the old Fulton stop, "you would have to rush through those narrow corridors weaving through passengers; everyone is going in every direction, where you could knock someone over or they'd knock you over."

Although the 180,000-square-foot complex will make commuting easier for 80 percent of workers traveling in Lower Manhattan, some straphangers say the Fulton Center is over-the-top.

"I don't think it's fully necessary as a commuter train to have all these unnecessary things in the way, people are trying to get to work down here - not shop," said Jen Gregson, adding "that's 1.4 billion they could have used somewhere else."

The mass majority of the station was funded by federal grants towards rebuilding after 9/11, while the state covered the rest of the cost.