New York governor Andrew Cuomo wants to make it easier for New Yorkers to travel outside the city. Cuomo announced a plan to build an AirTrain to connect New Yorkers from the subway to LaGuardia airport.
Cuomo believes the $450 million, five-year plan as a necessary investment in the state’s infrastructure.
“New York is a world class location but our airports are outdated and lag behind our competitors,” said Cuomo. “You can’t get to LaGuardia by train. That really is inexcusable, and that is going to change,” added Cuomo.
The project will build a rail line that will stretch a mile from LaGuardia to the Mets stop in Queens. In a speech to the Association for a Better New York, Cuomo said that the AirTrain will also connect to the Long Island Rail Road.
Cuomo has made transportation a central part of his legacy since he took office in 2010. He has had controversy with the expensive revamping of the Tappan Zee bridge. However, Cuomo is adamant that investment in LaGuardia Airport will help the underserved airport.
LaGuardia has always suffered from years of neglect, with Vice President Joe Biden joking it looked like a “third world country.”
Transportation experts hailed Cuomo’s announcement, “This is a breakthrough,” said Mitchell L. Moss, director of the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University. “They may need to rename La Guardia after Cuomo.”
While some praise the decision, others say the AirTrain plan is not economically feasible.
“It is alarming that he would spring a new project on people without explaining how to pay for the old projects,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
