Governor plans on $10 billion JFK renovation

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans on Jan. 4 for a $10 billion overhaul of John F. Kennedy International Airport similar to what is being done at LaGuardia Airport on the north side of Queens.

“We want to welcome you to the JFK Airport of the future: new amenities inside, streamlined transportation outside and new security measures,” Cuomo said on Twitter.

Cuomo tweeted that plans include creating a unified and interconnected terminal; redesigning the onsite traffic pattern; centralizing parking lots; having what he called “world class amenities”; expanding the taxiways and ensuring the airport’s safety with state-of-the-art security.

Commenting on Twitter, Kevin Jace said, “JFK Airport is fine. Finish fixing the miserable roads leading to it. Two hours to go 13 miles is a little excessive.”

The governor’s plan addresses roadway access to and from the airport on the Van Wyck Expressway and at the Kew Gardens Interchange. Cuomo supports the state Department of Transportation spending at least $1.5 billion and up to $2 billion for road improvements. There are also recommendations to double the capacity of the AirTrain, improve the subway and Long Island Rail Road connections to the AirTrain Jamaica station and explore the viability of officials called “a one-seat rail ride to the airport.

Improving the roadways that lead to the airport is a part of State Sen. Todd Kaminsky’s platform. Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) has spent the more than two years he has been a state legislator (he was first elected to the Assembly in 2014) battling for improvements to the Nassau Expressway, which is known as state route 878.

“If a new and improved JFK is to have ‘streamlined transportation,’ then that must also include a substantial overhaul of NY 878 — an abysmal roadway that has no place in the 21st century,” said Kaminsky, who was first elected to the senate in April, then won re-election in November. “I will continue to advocate that real resources be devoted to the improvement of this critical evacuation route. I am in continual talks with the appropriate agencies and believe we are making substantial progress.”

Gert-Jan de Graaff, president and chief executive officer of JFKIAT LLC, the operator of Terminal 4, one of the most active terminals in the New York area, said he is looking forward to working with Cuomo and the Port Authority to implement these plans.

“As someone who has worked in and managed airports on four continents, I wholeheartedly share the governor’s belief that a world-class city such as New York should have a world-class airport as its gateway to the rest of the world,” de Graff said in a press release.

Terminal 4 opened in 2001 and has grown in passenger capacity from six million in that year to 20 million by the end of 2016. The terminal serves 32 international and domestic airlines.

A record 60 million passengers come through JFK in 2016, and supported more than 285,000 jobs last year, according to figures in the governor’s report. The number of airport passengers is expected to grow substantially over the next several decades — to 75 million by 2030 and 100 million passengers by 2050.

The current airport will reach capacity by the mid-2020s. For each million passengers that JFK fails to accommodate, the region loses approximately $140 million in wages, $400 million in sales, and 2,500 jobs, state officials said.