Kris
July 14th, 2003, 11:41 AM
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
MTA puts brakes on LaG train
By PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, July 14th, 2003
Plans to extend the subway to LaGuardia Airport - a project pushed by the Giuliani administration - have fallen off the radar screen.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2000-04 capital plan set aside $645 million to design and begin building an extension of the N train or some other transit link to connect Manhattan with the airport.
Though $17 million in taxpayer money has been spent on planning, the MTA has not touched any of the $645 million - and, for now, those funds cannot be used for anything but the airport link.
"It hasn't gone away, but it's slid," MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said of the project.
The airport link has wound up last in a long line of major projects: bringing Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal, extending the No.7 train to Manhattan's far West Side and building the Second Ave. subway.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, officials are working on building a major hub at Ground Zero that could extend commuter lines downtown and connect Kennedy Airport with lower Manhattan.
"That's where all of our attention is focused," Kalikow said, "those issues we think more important than LaGuardia access."
Not a priority
Elliot Sander, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, agreed.
"LaGuardia is a good project, but you have to prioritize," Sander said. "In terms of political support from City Hall, Albany and Washington, it's moved back in the queue."
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani could not be reached for comment.
The $645 million earmarked for the LaGuardia link can't be used for any other project unless the MTA amends its capital spending plan.
Despite spending $17 million on planning, MTA and Port Authority officials are reassessing whether the LaGuardia link would be worth the money and years of construction.
Pared to 4 plans
Over the years, officials have looked at 20 possibilities for a LaGuardia connection - including running a No. 7 train extension from Shea Stadium to the airport.
By the time the $645 million was allocated in 2000, the MTA was down to four plans.
Three of the plans would extend the N line through Astoria. One would be underground, another would be elevated along 31st St. and 19th Ave. and the third calls for creation of an elevated spur along the Grand Central Parkway.
The fourth plan would create a guided busway from the Queensboro Bridge.
None of those ideas please local people and merchants, who fear noise and a loss of business.
The project "should be on the back burner and remain there," said George Delis, district manager of Queens' Community Board 1.
"We will fight this thing as hard as we can as long as we have to, and we will raise money" to file a lawsuit against the project, he added.
Improving airport access has been a longtime goal of city officials and planners. The Port Authority's AirTrain - which will link Kennedy Airport terminals with the Howard Beach subway station and subways and LIRR trains at Jamaica Station - is slated to begin service this year.
MTA puts brakes on LaG train
By PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, July 14th, 2003
Plans to extend the subway to LaGuardia Airport - a project pushed by the Giuliani administration - have fallen off the radar screen.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2000-04 capital plan set aside $645 million to design and begin building an extension of the N train or some other transit link to connect Manhattan with the airport.
Though $17 million in taxpayer money has been spent on planning, the MTA has not touched any of the $645 million - and, for now, those funds cannot be used for anything but the airport link.
"It hasn't gone away, but it's slid," MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said of the project.
The airport link has wound up last in a long line of major projects: bringing Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central Terminal, extending the No.7 train to Manhattan's far West Side and building the Second Ave. subway.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, officials are working on building a major hub at Ground Zero that could extend commuter lines downtown and connect Kennedy Airport with lower Manhattan.
"That's where all of our attention is focused," Kalikow said, "those issues we think more important than LaGuardia access."
Not a priority
Elliot Sander, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, agreed.
"LaGuardia is a good project, but you have to prioritize," Sander said. "In terms of political support from City Hall, Albany and Washington, it's moved back in the queue."
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani could not be reached for comment.
The $645 million earmarked for the LaGuardia link can't be used for any other project unless the MTA amends its capital spending plan.
Despite spending $17 million on planning, MTA and Port Authority officials are reassessing whether the LaGuardia link would be worth the money and years of construction.
Pared to 4 plans
Over the years, officials have looked at 20 possibilities for a LaGuardia connection - including running a No. 7 train extension from Shea Stadium to the airport.
By the time the $645 million was allocated in 2000, the MTA was down to four plans.
Three of the plans would extend the N line through Astoria. One would be underground, another would be elevated along 31st St. and 19th Ave. and the third calls for creation of an elevated spur along the Grand Central Parkway.
The fourth plan would create a guided busway from the Queensboro Bridge.
None of those ideas please local people and merchants, who fear noise and a loss of business.
The project "should be on the back burner and remain there," said George Delis, district manager of Queens' Community Board 1.
"We will fight this thing as hard as we can as long as we have to, and we will raise money" to file a lawsuit against the project, he added.
Improving airport access has been a longtime goal of city officials and planners. The Port Authority's AirTrain - which will link Kennedy Airport terminals with the Howard Beach subway station and subways and LIRR trains at Jamaica Station - is slated to begin service this year.