Port Authority approves more than $1B for construction at NYC airports
Interior rendering of LaGuardia Airport, via Governor Andrew Cuomo on Flickr
With the approval of its $8 billion 2018 budget on Thursday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plans to spend more than $1 billion on major redevelopment projects at LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International and JFK Airports next year. The agency’s board of commissioners approved a budget that allocates $3.2 billion for operating expenses and $3.4 billion for capital expenses. According to the Wall Street Journal, $578 million will be put toward the $8 billion redevelopment of LaGuardia and $167 million toward a $2.3 billion redevelopment plan of Newark’s Terminal A.
The bistate agency oversees the area’s airports as well as six bridges and tunnels, the site of the World Trade Center and the Port of NY and NJ, facilities whose profits help finance the capital program and offset losses from others. A third of the Port Authority’s budget will be allocated for construction work at the airports, which have desperately needed upgrades. Plus, the agency’s executive director, Rick Cotton, told the WSJ that it expects a record number of passengers at airports, which will experience an increase of 1.7 percent from last year.
Rendering of Newark’s Terminal A redevelopment, via Port Authority
Improvements planned for Newark include creating a new, one-million-square-foot terminal to accommodate 33 aircraft gates. The board authorized on Thursday work to begin on paving work, the demolition of buildings and concourses and the installation of a new drainage system. The new Terminal One at Newark is scheduled for a partial opening in 2021, becoming fully operational by 2022.
Rendering of LaGuardia Airport via Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office
Last month, the Port Authority approved $55 million in additional funding for the second phase of planning for an AirTrain to LaGuardia. The authority previously allocated $20 million for the AirTrain which would run between Mets-Willets Point and the airport, one part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $8 billion plan to revamp LaGuardia.
The airport, which was ranked as the worst airport in the nation last year barely beating out Newark for the title, will be getting a modern makeover, with state-of-the-art amenities and expanded public transportation. LaGuardia’s transformation is expected to be completed by 2021.
Photo of TWA via Max Touhey
Cuomo’s $10 billion overhaul of JFK Airport, announced this past January, aims to unify all the terminals with an interconnected layout so the airport is more easily navigable, improve road access to the airport, and expand rail mass transit to meet projected passenger growth. Plus, the conversion of Eero Saarinen’s historic TWA flight center into a hotel, event space and dining hot spot is well underway. The project is expected to open in less than a year and a half.
[Via WSJ]
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