NEW YORK — A long-discussed rail link to LaGuardia Airport and replacement of the current monorail link to Newark Liberty Airport were among more than $4 billion in projects approved Thursday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Each of the rail projects will cost about $2 billion, the Associated Press reports.
The LaGuardia train will connect the airport to rail lines serving midtown Manhattan. A Port Authority study estimates that the train will handle between 6.6 million and 10 million trips annually as an alternative to traffic-choked access that can see drivers need more than an hour to go 8 miles.
The LaGuardia line will connect to the Long Island Rail Road and subway No. 7 line at Willits Point in Queens, the station which serves the New York Mets’ stadium, Citi Field, and the U.S. Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open. Travel time on the new line is estimated at 6 minutes.
The project at Newark will replace a 23-year-old monorail with a 3-mile route between the airport and the Amtrak/NJ Transit Liberty Airport station on the Northeast Corridor. That system is frequently shut down for repairs.
The Port Authority board also approved $80 million for work in New Jersey to accommodate longer trains on PATH rail lines.
