Gothamist: Port Authority: NYC AreaMay Need Another Airport

Dave H.

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 09:40:24 -0500

To start the week on a convergent note, The Castle is an incredibly funny movie about an Australian family that refuses to accept the eminent domain seizure of its home after it's decided that the Melbourne airport needs to be expanded.

Corey

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 19:14:41 -0500

This is sold news, of sorts. It was reported on WNBC last week. Newburgh is one of the 2 possibilities mentioned, the other being McGwire AFB in NJ.

Dave H.

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 15:10:17 -0500

NJ Transit's Main Line that runs up through Bergen and into Rockland counties stops at Salisbury Mills/Cornwall. That's only about 5 miles from Stewart. The main line's terminus is Hoboken, but passengers can transfer at Seacaucus and continue to Penn Station. A regular train between Penn and Cornwall takes about 1hr 30-40min, but that's with the train making every commuter stop along the line. A dedicated airport-city run would be much shorter, especially if the transfer in Seacaucus were eliminated. Regular shuttle buses into the city could make the trip in about an hour. A five-mile spur extension off the Main Line could deliver passengers directly to the airport. It seems like a relatively small investment in improving infrastructure might be preferable to spending $10 billion (?) on building a whole new airport from scratch. The 55-mile distance is definitely a burden to be overcome, but given that almost all the land surrounding NYC is dedicated to high-end suburbs, good luck getting any of those towns to cede a few hundred or a couple thousand acres to develop a noisy polluting airport. Plus, if the purpose is to ease the burden on Newark, Laguardia and JFK, siphoning off all the travelers who live in Putnam, Rockland, northern NJ and a good deal of lower-Upstate NY seems like a good idea. Especially considering that it's the upstate counties like Dutchess that are experiencing rapid population growth.

gfgh

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 14:02:37 -0500

floyd bennet field

joe

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 13:57:46 -0500

At best Stewart could be used by northern suburbs, where people already have cars. West Shore commuter trains stopped running 50 years ago. The Bergen County and Pascack Valley lines that NJ Transit does run in NY would have to be extended 40-50 miles. Cab fare would be at least $150 one-way from the city.

Dave H.

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 12:09:38 -0500

Stewart International Airport in Newburg, NY is only 55 miles north of the city. Currently hosts smaller regional airlines, but does have flights to Vegas and Cancun. Also a home for cargo flights by UPS and FedEx. At around 2,200 acres it's less than half the size of JFK (4,930) but more than 3 times as large as LaGuardia (680). Total property is 8,000 acres but a lot of that has been given over to an industrial park. Given that the facility has been used for commercial and passenger air traffic for decades, it seems to have already jumped through all the regulatory hoops and NIMBY bullshit that anyone within a 100 miles of NYC is going to present if you try to park an airport in their community. Transportation infrastructure is convenient; it's at the intersection of I-84 and the NYS Thruway and I believe NJ Transit has regular commuter trains that run down the west side of the Hudson. The town of Newburg could certainly benefit from some major economic development; it's seen better days. Cab fare would certainly be a bitch, but if the Port Authority feels it's going to need another airport eventually, a major expansion of Stewart would be a good start to its search.

Kojak

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 12:08:25 -0500

I don’t know Scott... It Cost Japan over $20 Billion to build Kansai Airport. And now they're expanding it which will cost even more $$$. Not to mention its still sinking into the sea. They haven’t fixed that yet. To build an island in the sea is overkill here. In Japan its understandable and necessary since they have less land to build on then we do.

iceberg

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 11:24:00 -0500

I'm still waiting for the tunnel which connects Sandy Hook, NJ to Coney Island, NY. I've measured the distance between them and it's about 6.2 miles, IIRC. Or maybe that was for the tunnel which goes from Sandy Hook to Breezy Point. Either way, it makes for a lovely triangle in Raritan Bay, which will hopefully divert half the traffic currently clogging up Staten Island's Highway 440 and the Staten Island Expressway, Highway 287. Yeah, a man can dream, right? Oh that other airport? Shut down that dangerous Naval weapons base called Earle Station, which is situated near Freehold, NJ and right off the Garden State Parkway.

Captain Midnight

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 11:13:29 -0500

Better yet, give us a maglev train system. Almost as fast, safer, more fuel efficient. The skies are crowded enough. There's no reason we shouldn't a good high-speed rail system in this country for domestic travel. No reason except for the cheesy baby steps Amtrak took with Acela. China has the first fully operational commercial maglev passenger train system. China! Darn tootin' they're pushing fast to become the new world power of the 21st century while we Americans stand around patting ourselves on the back. I want my Inductrack train. Build it, and they will come!

scott

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:32:59 -0500

Do what the Japanese have done - build a massive, man-made, floating island connected by sort of monorail system. Put it out in Long Island Sound somewhere, or maybe south of Staten Island near Sandy Hook. I dunno.

RhodesFaller

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:21:40 -0500

I don't know that you can put that much runway concrete over landfill (it shifts over time), but I like the idea. Why not put a big one in CT?

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:17:35 -0500

fresh kills anyone?

tien

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:10:06 -0500

psh, all they have to do is take it, no? eminent domain and all.