Car ramp, pedestrian bridge take shape at Albany airport
DOT: $32M Northway Exit 3 expected to be completed by Dec. 18
Steel beams are in place on the new vehicle entrance ramp and a walkway connecting the structure to the terminal is quickly taking shape as workers rush to finish the new 1,000-vehicle, five-level structure at Albany International Airport.
With part of the new Exit 3 already open, the effort is to get $50 million in terminal improvements, including the garage, new escalators and elevators, remodeled bathrooms and several new food vendors, completed as quickly as possible.
The $32 million exit is expected to be completed sometime in December — an online
Department of Transportation project update says completion is expected by Dec. 18 — and officials privately say they would like to see the airport improvements wrapped up ahead of schedule as well. The exit was intended to improve access between the Northway and the terminal.
The Albany County Airport Authority has overseen the terminal and garage
work, even as its top leadership changes.
On Thursday, the deputy county executive, Phil Calderone, was chosen to succeed current airport CEO John O’donnell by late November.
In September, the authority board hired a former chief financial officer for O’hare and Midway International airports in Chicago, Michael F. Zonsius, to succeed retiring airport CFO William O’reilly.
The airport has seen traffic grow as low-fare and ultra-low fare carriers have added ser vice. Frontier and Allegiant both offer inexpensive f lights to some of Albany ’s most popular destinations, although they don’t operate daily.
And there are some cities, including Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, which no longer have nonstop f lights from Albany. The capacity improvements, officials hope, will attract more business at an airport where boardings have already reached the terminal’s design capacity.