NEWS
Aviation

147-99: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE , December 10, 1999

AIRTRAIN CONSTRUCTION REACHES MILESTONE AT JFK -- Terminal-to-Terminal Links and Access to A Train Reach Halfway Mark


Construction of a major component of the Port Authority's AirTrain project, which will provide fast, dependable access to JFK and from terminal to terminal on the airport, has reached the halfway mark, Port Authority Executive Director Robert E. Boyle announced today.

Mr. Boyle said that construction is half complete on the on-airport segments of AirTrain. They will link the airport's terminals, and extend to the Howard Beach Station of the A train.

"On-airport, we've driven 85 percent of all the piles, completed 70 percent of the pile caps, finished 60 percent of the main support columns, and erected 22 percent of the actual guideway," Mr. Boyle said. "We've made excellent progress in 15 months."

Mr. Boyle said the on-airport segments of AirTrain will be completed in late 2002. The link to Jamaica Station will be completed in early 2003.

Construction of AirTrain began in September 1998. The 8.1-mile light rail system will link the airport's passenger terminals to one another and to long-term parking lots, rental car areas and off-airport transit connections. It will connect to the Howard Beach Station of the A train, and to the Jamaica Station transportation complex, where passengers can change for the Long Island Rail Road, the E, J and Z subway lines, and more than 40 bus lines.

Mr. Boyle also said that preparatory work began in October on the Jamaica leg of the project. An additional temporary traffic lane is being created in each direction of the Van Wyck Expressway, so that full roadway capacity can be maintained during peak periods.

A team comprising Bombardier Transit Corporation, Slattery Skanska, Inc., Perini Corporation and Karl Koch Erecting Company, Inc. was awarded the $930 million contract to design and build AirTrain. The Port Authority also awarded the group a $105 million, five-year contract to operate and maintain the line, with two additional five-year renewal options.

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