By Michael V. Cusenza
Borough residents and business owners are encouraged to issue comment by Monday, March 18, on the State Department of Transportation’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement: the plan to increase capacity on the Van Wyck Expressway and improve vehicular access to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The $1.22 billion project’s official designation is: Van Wyck Expressway Capacity and Access Improvements to JFK Airport. According to NYSDOT, the needs for the massive undertaking are: to increase capacity on the VWE to and from JFK Airport; to improve the operations and geometry of the ramps; and to address structural deficiencies of the bridges within the project limits.
The purpose of the project is to provide increased capacity on the VWE between the Kew Gardens Interchange and JFK Airport to improve vehicular access to and from the airport, NYSDOT noted. In addition, the project will address operational, geometric, and structural deficiencies on the VWE between the Kew Gardens Interchange and JFK Airport.
According to NYSDOT, the Van Wyck is a vital transportation corridor providing access to and from the John F. Kennedy International Airport, which is a major international gateway to the United States, with 70 carriers serving 100 international non-stop destinations. Overall, the airport handles 58.9 million passengers with over 400,000 aircraft operations annually and is one of the world’s leading international air cargo centers. According to the “Recommendations for a 21st Century Airport for the State of New York,” a report prepared by the Airport Advisory Panel in January 2017, the number of passengers at JFK Airport is expected to grow by nearly one-third to a total of over 75 million passengers by 2030. The VWE also serves as the major route for commercial truck traffic to get to and from the airport, with trucks accounting for eight percent of morning peak volume and five percent of evening peak volume on I-678.
Renderings Courtesy of NYSDOT
