Cuomo’s $10B plan to give JFK an airlift

Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday unveiled a $10 billion plan to revamp JFK Airport that calls for major highway improvements, interconnected terminals, more flights and security that includes facial-recognition technology.

“JFK is ranked 59th out of the top 100 international airports. We used to be number one,” Cuomo said during a presentation to the Association for a Better New York. “Time has passed us by. We have to catch up.”

The always-congested expressway to the airport, the Van Wyck, would be expanded from three to four lanes each way. The Kew Gardens Interchange that connects with the Van Wyck and the Grand Central Parkway would add a lane in each direction.

Cuomo’s office said the state has the legal right of way to expand the traffic-choked roadways. Those changes alone will cost $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The master plan also includes replacing the disjointed, spaghetti roadways within the airport with a circular road connecting all terminals. AirTrain service would be expanded from two to four cars per train.

MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast drew the biggest applause at the New York Hilton event when he called for direct mass-transit access to the airport in a single ride from Manhattan, a proposal that for years has gone nowhere.

“We need to explore the possibility of a one-seat ride,” he said.

The plan also calls for modernizing the Jamaica transit hub, where travelers are now “schlepping” their luggage while transferring from the subway and LIRR to the AirTrain, Prendergast said.

In addition, the plan calls on the Federal Aviation Administration to increase flights.

JFK currently has fewer flight slots than Newark Airport, Cuomo aides said.

Cuomo said civilian airport employees as well as law enforcement are undergoing new training to bolster security, which will include anti-terror upgrades such as facial-recognition technology.

The overhaul comes as JFK expects its passenger load to increase from 60 million in 2016 to 75 million by 2030.

Industry insiders were skeptical, pointing out that deadlines were not given for completion dates and that an estimated $7 billion in private funding was not locked in.

“It’s more of a vision than a plan,” said one airport source who attended the event.

While applauding the overhaul, New York still is way behind international competitors when it comes to transit access to the airports.

“That part of the plan needs to move from ‘exploring’ to ‘doing,’ ” Joseph Sitt of the airport advocacy group Global Gateway Alliance said of a one-seat AirTrain ride.