NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Extending the subway to LaGuardia Airport is among the options that the Port Authority is considering after the AirTrain project was halted last month, officials said Tuesday.
The agency said last month that it would undertake “a thorough review of potential alternative mass transit options” to LaGuardia after Gov. Kathy Hochul put the brakes on the controversial AirTrain, which had been championed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Among the mass transit options that will be considered by an expert panel are:
• improved and expanded bus service, including potential for dedicated lanes;
• ferry service;
• one-system rides including subway extension options;
• elevated guideway options including light rail from various LIRR and subway stops;
• other new and emerging technologies that can be pursued and implemented in the near-term.
The Port Authority said Tuesday that the panel of experts who will review the options include Janette Sadik-Khan, the former NYC transportation commissioner; Philip A. Washington, the CEO of Denver International Airport; and Mike Brown, the former managing director of Heathrow Airport in London.
Among the criteria that will be considered when reviewing the options are constructability; construction and other impacts on the local community; customer experience and length of travel time; greenhouse gas reduction; impacts to existing transit network/riders; improved access to airport; project cost; projected timeline to become operational; removal of cars from roadways; ridership; and throughput capacity.
The agency said a final report would be completed “as expeditiously as possible” and that the MTA will be a key player, specifically as relates to exploring the subway and bus options.
The proposed AirTrain would have connected travelers from LaGuardia to the 7 subway line and the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Washington branch at the Mets–Willets Point station complex.
Critics of the $2.1 billion proposal derided the route as circuitous — forcing Manhattan-bound travelers to first head out east on a journey that would negligibly improve current travel times.
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