Let’s take another look at Cuomo AirTrain plan: Kathy
The plan to build an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport is all but derailed.
Gov. Hochul on Monday issued a statement hinting the project — a priority of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — would not be built.
“I have asked the Port Authority to thoroughly examine mass transit solutions for reducing car traffic and increasing connectivitiy to LaGuardia Airport,” Hochul’s statement said. “We must ensure that our transportation projects are bold, visionary and serve the needs of New Yorkers. I remain committed to working expeditiously to rebuild our infrastructure for the 21st century and to create jobs — not just at LaGuardia, but at all of our airports and transit hubs across New York.”
The $2 billion Cuomo project would link the airport’s terminals to a new station at Willets Point, Queens, that connects to the No. 7 line and Long Island Rail Road trains. The route would require riders from Manhattan to travel past the airport before paying a second fare for the AirTrain.
Officially dubbed a “people-mover,” Cuomo’s AirTrain proposal for years sparked pushback from transit advocates and experts who argue there’s a better way to connect LaGuardia to the rest of the city by building an extension of the subway’s N or 7 lines or providing dedicated bus routes along Grand Central Parkway.
Both of those alternatives were reviewed as part of the environmental impact statement for the AirTrain project, which received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in July 2020.
The review process sparked a lawsuit from the environmental group Riverkeeper that argued the Port Authority and FAA sandbagged the alternative proposals to make the AirTrain appear to be the only rail link feasible for the airport.
An anonymous letter from Port Authority staffers in August accused Cuomo of exerting “undue influence” that prompted agency officials to “manipulate the federally mandated Environmental Impact Statement” for the AirTrain.
A chorus of elected officials have also called for the AirTrain to be nixed. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens, Bronx) in January 2020 became one of the highest-ranking politicians to criticize the project’s environmental review. Mayor de Blasio last week said the project was “rushed through” by Cuomo, adding there may be “a way to give people a more direct ride to the airport.”
State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) has joined the anti-AirTrain cohort — and now supports a subway extension of the N line from Astoria Blvd. over the Grand Central Parkway.
“The proposed LGA AirTrain is terribly over budget and a poor option for increasing airport access,” said Gianaris. “We need a community-centered plan that gets people out of cars, on to mass transit, and to and from LaGuardia faster.”
Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said Thursday that the agency was moving ahead with the AirTrain project, but noted he would “be responding to all of [Hochul’s] questions” on the subject.
It’s unclear what Hochul aims to achieve through another review of the AirTrain project. She could direct the Port Authority to shut down the work and restart the review for an alternate proposal.
“The whole idea of looking at alternatives does not mean on the same day I’m going to say the results that I want,” Hochul said during a news conference Monday.
“I don’t feel obligated to accept what I’ve inherited. I have an opportunity to take a clean look at these issues and to hear from many individuals that there were alternatives on the table — that even the FAA said that people were saying did not look at as closely as they should’ve.”