From (Crumbling) Airport to (Broken) Escalators: An Infrastructure Odyssey
- 6 years ago
From (Crumbling) Airport to (Broken) Escalators: An Infrastructure Odyssey
The Sunday before last, as I emerged tired and dispirited from Penn Station after a two-plus hour trip from the Newark airport, I found myself pondering President Trump’s campaign
pledge “to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment,” a theme he raised in this year’s State of the Union address and is expected to address again next week.
My trip to Manhattan from Newark Liberty International Airport began at Terminal A. Newark is a finalist in Amazon’s quest for a second headquarters location, but one look at
that terminal should be enough to send the e-commerce giant’s representatives back to Seattle.
“If Newark airport kept all the money it generated from landing fees it could be a world-class airport,” said Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, an independent urban research group
that focuses on infrastructure and public policy in the New York area.
A major issue for the New York area’s airports is that the Port Authority is allowed to divert revenues collected from airline passengers to nonairport uses, likes the PATH train
and the new Oculus station at the World Trade Center, a project that went grossly over budget.
After a 10-minute walk in Terminal A, I boarded the AirTrain for what is supposed to be an 11-minute trip to the Newark Airport train station.
The Sunday before last, as I emerged tired and dispirited from Penn Station after a two-plus hour trip from the Newark airport, I found myself pondering President Trump’s campaign
pledge “to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment,” a theme he raised in this year’s State of the Union address and is expected to address again next week.
My trip to Manhattan from Newark Liberty International Airport began at Terminal A. Newark is a finalist in Amazon’s quest for a second headquarters location, but one look at
that terminal should be enough to send the e-commerce giant’s representatives back to Seattle.
“If Newark airport kept all the money it generated from landing fees it could be a world-class airport,” said Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, an independent urban research group
that focuses on infrastructure and public policy in the New York area.
A major issue for the New York area’s airports is that the Port Authority is allowed to divert revenues collected from airline passengers to nonairport uses, likes the PATH train
and the new Oculus station at the World Trade Center, a project that went grossly over budget.
After a 10-minute walk in Terminal A, I boarded the AirTrain for what is supposed to be an 11-minute trip to the Newark Airport train station.