The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last month approved a 10-year, $26 billion capital plan that includes significant investments to construct the Trans-Hudson Express Rail Tunnel and other regional transportation initiatives, enhance security at Port Authority facilities and address aviation capacity issues through 2016. The Port Authority operates John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro airports, among other transportation links.
"No projects are focused on creating passenger traffic," said Port Authority spokesman Marc Lavorgna. "People are moving back and the region is growing—there are more people going through the airports this month than three years ago—but if we don't accommodate the growth, the economy will suffer. No one will want to live and work in a region where you can't move. We have to accommodate it, otherwise it will collapse under its own growth."
One expansion highlight is a $3.9 million extension and modernization of John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia airports.
"It will include, for example, Terminal B in Newark being converted from a two-level to a three-level area with inline baggage screening, more modern elevators and escalators, more modern dimensions for ticket counters and an improved roadway designed to accommodate the tremendous growth," said Lavorgna. There also will be expansion plans to develop another regional airport for the metropolitan region
(BTN, June 19, 2006).The plan also includes a breakdown of the $5.7 billion Port Authority budget of which $2.3 billion is earmarked for operating expenses, $2.5 billion for capital improvements and $806 million for debt service. The Port Authority will seek to trim expenses, and the plan may mean an estimated 700 full-time staff job cuts.
"We'll eliminate jobs through attrition and continue to look for ways to be more efficient," said Lavorgna, who stressed that the Port Authority is financially self-supporting and receives no tax revenue from either state. "It's a large dollar number—$26 billion—but we think a lot of major projects have been neglected and it's time to reinvest. Our security costs have risen astronomically and we need to do what we can to squeeze every penny out of the budget."
Continuing to hold the line on operating expenses, the plan reflects only a 1.1 percent increase over the 2006 budget despite an increase in security spending. "In 2006 and 2007, our spending was flat and we spent a lot on capital, which was unavoidable due to the WTC Freedom Tower work, but now we're looking to keep the operating and personnel budget as flat as possible," Lavorgna said. "We're spending public dollars and it's our responsibility to be as frugal as we can, but not in capital construction that moves people more efficiently."