Each trip to John F. Kennedy International Airport seems to require more time. Even from my Garden City home, it is necessary to plan an hour travel time just to be safe. The new Airtrain, now under construction, can change all that when it is completed in the summer of 2003. The new set up will particularly benefit those traveling from the city and further out on Long Island. At a cost of around $1.6 billion, it will provide better access to an already overcrowded airport.

The Port Authority sponsored Airtrain, being constructed by a consortium including Slattery Skanska, one of the largest construction companies in the world, will make a great difference in getting to the airport on time! When the current phase is completed in 2003, travelers will be able to take the Long Island Rail Road to the Jamaica Station and transfer to the superefficient Airtrain. Riders of the A Train in New York City will be able to make connections in Howard Beach. In addition, stations at Sutphin and Archer Avenues will connect with 40 buslines and the E, J and Z subways.

Community opposition was a major obstacle in getting this job done. It took over 500 community outreach meetings to convince residents, close to the project, that the effort should proceed. From editorial boards to civic associations, the Slattery Skanska executives made themselves available to anyone who would listen. The effort was very successful. It is not easy to build in New York City. Without the positive community affairs effort by Slattery Skanska, it is quite likely that the project would have never started. Once the public bought into the Airtrain, it was much easier to convince elected officials that the undertaking had to move forward.

The Port Authority has called Jamaica Station "the most critical piece of the project." The railroad station will be modernized and connected to the Airtrain by crossing above the tracks with new platforms, roofs and canopies. When completed, passengers will be able to check bags at the Airtrain terminal and move off to JFK.

After completing the JFK link, the Port Authority will move on to construct a similar service from Jamaica to LaGuardia Airport. It is estimated that some 34 million passengers will ride the Airtrain each year. That translates into the elimination of 76,000 vehicle miles traveled by customers leaving and going to John F. Kennedy Airport - an improvement which will be warmly welcomed.