New York's LaGuardia Airport, long derided for its shoddy terminals and chronic travel delays, will be torn down and rebuilt. New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo says the new, modern airport will rival the world's best airports when it's up and running in 2021.
Cuomo unveiled plans for the new La Guardia at a luncheon in New York on Monday, along with Vice President Joe Biden. The renderings, presented by real estate developer Daniel R. Tishman, show a single terminal that will replace the four existing disjointed terminals built in the mid-20th century. The new terminal will be set 600 feet closer to Grand Central Parkway highway, freeing up two miles of space for planes to taxi in and take off. The plan also includes a rail link connecting LaGuardia to the subway system (which JFK Airport already has), as well as a ferry service. The project is expected to cost $4 billion, with additional (but undisclosed) funding from Delta Airlines, which has a hub at LaGuardia.
Cuomo's announcement doesn't explicitly address whether the existing La Guardia will need to shut down during construction, but the development will happen in two phases, starting in 2016. LaGuardia Gateway, a partnership between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will tackle the redevelopment of Terminals A and B, hopefully by 2019. After that, Delta will handle construction on Terminals C and D.
The announcement has been a long time coming. Cuomo first advocated for a new LaGuardia last year, after a chorus of media criticism—including a Travel + Leisure story that ranked LaGuardia the worst airport in the United States—led to the formation of the Global Gateway Alliance, a group advocating for airport improvements. Efforts stalled again and again, but Cuomo said yesterday that this newest announcement signals a concrete start to redevelopment. "Best of all, it’s not a plan, it’s not a sketch, it’s not a dream, it’s not a vision," he said. “It is actually happening.”
