September 21, 2020

Twelve Former New York City and State Transit Leaders Submit Letter in Support of AirTrain LGA  

We, the below signatories, have served as senior transportation officials in New York City and New York State government. Each of us has three to five decades of experience planning, developing and delivering major transportation infrastructure projects and programs in New York, and managing the agencies that own and operate these vital assets. We well understand the difficulties of getting a major project built in today’s fractious and uncertain political climate – especially during a global health crisis. We also know the critical elements necessary to make a project viable: minimal environmental impacts; little or no private land taking; solid planning and forecasting; reasonable and predictable costs; and strong champions to see the project through.

In our many decades working in transportation policy and infrastructure delivery, we have long supported smart rail connections to service the New York metropolitan region’s international airports. Some of us worked on the JFK and Newark AirTrain projects while others have aided in the planning, designing and building of other New York transit facilities. Today, LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is the only major regional airport lacking such a crucial intermodal connection.

Decades ago, we may have called for a “one-seat ride” connection to LGA. However, today we fully support the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s proposed AirTrain LaGuardia to provide direct service to the region’s remaining major airport without a convenient transit connection. So, what has changed?

The one-seat ride envisioned in the past was never really just “one-seat.” With the exception of those arriving from Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal, every traveler would have been required to transfer from a subway, railcar, taxi or bus on their way to the airport. AirTrain LaGuardia will instead be directly accessible to LIRR customers and only 16 minutes from Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal.

New York City residents and visitors ride the subway more than any other mode of transportation, and MTA’s #7 train, with its proposed link to AirTrain LaGuardia, already connects with most other subway lines. Concerns that AirTrain LaGuardia could overburden the #7 line are largely unfounded since its primary flow of travelers would run in the opposite direction of the commuting pattern into and out of Manhattan. Also, LaGuardia’s air travel patterns are departure-heavy in the morning and arrival-heavy in the evening, essentially creating a reverse commute.

Yes, some of us were initially skeptical about the JFK AirTrain. Those with doubts thought, because of the number of transfers involved, predicted usage of the system would never materialize. Now with the benefit of hindsight we can happily report the doubters were wrong. There were 21 million riders in 2019, including 8.7 million paid riders, 55% above initial forecasts, and about 12 million free rides between terminals.

After a quick glance of the map, extending the N train out to LGA may also seem like an option worth exploring; hundreds of years of combined experience tells us otherwise. Because it could not remain elevated as it gets close to the airport’s runways it would require construction of an enormously expensive and technically difficult tunnel to reach LaGuardia. Those with urban tunneling experience are familiar with the complexities of moving a labyrinth of crossing subsurface utilities and know that addressing other underground surprises also presents enormous challenges. If tunneling can be avoided, it should. Furthermore, extending the N train would require the taking of dozens of private properties, causing massive disruption to communities. Those of us who have been involved in projects that require the taking of private property know it is expensive, time consuming, typically involves protracted litigation, and inevitably becomes a community flashpoint.

AirTrain LaGuardia, on the other hand, is separated from the nearest residential neighborhood by the Grand Central Parkway – a relocation of the original route down the middle of the highway in response to community input. The project would take no private land and it would generate at least $35 million in capital investments for the long-neglected Flushing Bay Marina and Promenade that it will abut.

We also do not believe dedicated bus lanes offer a comparable or reliable service alternative. Even with dedicated lanes, buses would be required to fight Manhattan traffic as they cross signal controlled, heavily congested or blocked intersections. Taking away one lane in each direction from any of the East River crossings, which are already jammed to capacity, would create severe bottlenecks. It would also be very difficult to justify re-purposing two busy lanes to support just a handful of buses per hour. In fact, it would be impossible to do at the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, which has only one lane Queens bound today during the morning peak, unless the inbound bus and HOV lane were discontinued. Hundreds of buses and tens of thousands of passengers would then face severe delays. Similarly, taking lanes from the GCP, LIE and/or BQE links to the airport would create enormous delays, dramatically increase pollution and greenhouse gases, and spark fierce outrage.

After reviewing these and other alternatives, it is our clear view and strong opinion that only the proposed AirTrain LaGuardia meets the viability parameters listed in our opening paragraph above. The environmental impacts are minimal, there is no private land taking, and the forecasts are sound and supported by “real world” experience at JFK. The estimated costs are reasonable and offer far greater predictability than a sub-runway tunnel or complex, large-scale private land acquisitions.

Finally, this project has a strong and proven champion, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has demonstrated time and again over the years it knows how to get big projects done. We therefore strongly endorse this much-needed, regionally beneficial transportation infrastructure advancement, and we urge USDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration to approve the AirTrain LaGuardia project as proposed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Very truly yours, Signatories,

Michael Fleischer, former NYSDOT Deputy Commissioner and former NYSTA Executive Director

Michael Horodniceanu, former MTA Capital Construction President and former NYCDOT Traffic Commissioner

Maria Lehman, former NYSTA acting Executive Director and Director of Operations

Thomas J. Madison, Jr., former NYSDOT Commissioner, former NYSTA Executive Director and former FHWA Administrator

Stephen Morgan, former NYSTA Executive Director

Thomas Prendergast, former MTA Chair and CEO, and former President MTA NYCT

Lucius J. Riccio, former NYCDOT Commissioner

Elliot G. Sander, former MTA CEO and former NYCDOT Commissioner

Ross Sandler, former NYCDOT Commissioner

Michael Shamma, former NYSTA Chief Engineer and former NYSDOT Chief Engineer

Samuel I. Schwartz, former NYCDOT Traffic Commissioner and Chief Engineer

Gerard Soffian, former NYCDOT Deputy Commissioner