Schumer touts $29M for Albany airport
Improvements would include upgrades to the terminal, faster security checkpoints
Are long lines at Albany International Airport’s security checkpoint about to become a thing of the past?
U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer was at the airport Wednesday to tout nearly $29 million in federal funds for improvements that are part of the $1 trillion infrastructure plan awaiting passage in the House of Representatives.
Schumer said the money will pay for an expansion of the terminal and improvements that should speed the process of getting into the terminal. At peak travel hours, passengers often line up out of the terminal and onto a footbridge that links the airport to one of its parking garages.
The funding is more than “small peanuts” because it will kick-start the airport’s expansion, Schumer said.
The money will make the security process easier and go toward improving the TSA checkpoint.
The region’s burgeoning computer chip manufacturing industry requires a suitable airport, the senator said. Global
Colonie
just announced plans to build a second fabrication plant in Malta.
The work at the airport was part of a package of local improvements Schumer outlined Wednesday.
He said the Capital District Transportation Authority will get $113 million in funding over the next five years, plus more money to transform its fleet into “clean buses.”
Schumer said the region will also get $175 million to create an electric charging network.
The massive infrastructure package is a key part of President Joe Biden’s agenda. The money would be spent across the country and used to finance highway and road improvements, expansion of broadband internet, sewer and water projects, and other public works efforts. The measure was championed in the Senate by Schumer, the Democratic majority leader. It drew overwhelming support from Democrats as well as 19 Senate Republicans who backed it.
The House, which like the Senate is controlled by Democrats, has yet to take action on the measure.
The measure proposes nearly $550 billion in new spending over five years in addition to current federal authorizations for public works that will reach virtually every corner of the country — a potentially historic expenditure Biden has put on par with the building of the transcontifoundries nental railroad and interstate highway system.
There’s money to rebuild roads and bridges, shore up coastlines against climate change, protect public utility systems from cyberattacks and modernize the electric grid.
Public transit gets a boost, as do airports and freight rail.
Most lead water pipes in America could also be replaced.