New York to Invest $45 Billion in Transportation Infrastructure Development

There is the Midtown Bus Terminal in downtown Manhattan, the biggest in the United States and the busiest in the world. But at 75 years of age, it is undergoing a replacement.

Then there is Terminal A at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, with its main building a heritage site for its Art Deco style. The smallest of the airport’s three terminals, it is also set for a major upgrade as it has come to show its age of 85 years.

The bus and air terminals are but two pieces of infrastructure in New York City that are undergoing a major overhaul thanks to an ambitious multi-billion-dollar investment by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Authority is the agency responsible for the airports, ports, bridges, tunnels and mass transit services that ensure the transport of hundreds of millions of people and goods every year in one of the most important economic regions in the world.

With its 2017-2025 plan coming to a close, the Authority is proposing its successor for the next 10 years, dubbing it “A Decade of Big Ambition”.

With a budget of $45 billion, it aims to complete projects already underway like the Midtown Bus Terminal, and start new ones as it modernises and expands its vast network of transportation infrastructures.

“The proposed (plan) aims to continue delivering a transformation not seen in a generation, reinforcing the Port Authority’s central role in the movement of people and goods across air, land, rail, and sea,” it said in announcing the latest plan on November 13, details of which will be voted for approval by the board of directors in December after public consultation.

“The plan funds (the) completion of ongoing megaprojects while launching the next wave of critical infrastructure projects to strengthen regional mobility and economic competitiveness,” it said, adding that it expected more than 50,000 jobs to be created, generating significant economic activity across the region that straddles the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey.

“Sustained investment in the region’s critical assets is essential to ensure infrastructure keeps pace with growth, climate resiliency, and security needs,” it said.

Apart from the Midtown Bus Terminal, other infrastructural projects to be completed include the rehabilitation of the Lincoln Tunnel Helix, an elevated spiral roadway built in 1937 in New Jersey; and a hub and a rail service upgrade at John F. Kennedy Airport.

There is also the George Washington Bridge, whose rehabilitation is 60 percent complete. Meanwhile, the Bayonne Bridge was raised to allow for the passage of next-generation ships to the port terminals of New York and New Jersey, the busiest on the East Coast.

Among the new transportation infrastructure to be launched under the next plan proposed by the Authority is LaGuardia’s Terminal A, the replacement of Terminal B at Newark Liberty Airport International Airport; and the rehabilitation of the Outerbridge Crossing, a 98-year-old cantilever bridge connecting New Jersey and State Island.

Infrastructure renewal is a constant activity in major cities as they seek to keep up with the growing – and changing – demands of their economies.

The Unionport Bridge is another example. A bascule bridge stretching over the Westchester Creek along the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx, it was recently replaced with the help of Lane, the U.S. subsidiary of the Webuild Group.

Much like the Bayonne Bridge, the Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach in California was replaced by the Long Beach International Gateway, the highest cable-stayed bridge in the United States. Build by a group including Webuild, its span is 15 metres high in order to allow for the passage of those enormous cargo vessels.