Anything you could possibly hate about getting to or from an airport is about too happen at New York's JFK as a huge round of construction and redevelopment begins, and lasting four to five years.
The work will force repeated relocations of roadways running through the airport, relocation of taxi and app-hailed car pickups and even a partial closure of stations on the airport's AirTrain system. The project is so complex that the Port Authority, which operates the airports, is not completely sure what will happen when.
The work involves the demolition of Delta's old Terminal 2 to make room for a new Terminal 1, allowing demolition of the existing T1, home to a number of major international carriers; yet more extension of the already super-sprawling T4, where Delta and many others are based; and a new Terminal 6. And if that weren't enough, by 2026, T7 will be demolished to make room for phase two of T6. When all the work is done, there will be T1, T4, T5, T6, T8 and a good case for renaming or renumbering. In case you're wondering, T3 disappeared years ago.
During the various phases of work, roadways will be torn up and relocated as needed, with some connections becoming at points nearly impossible without leaving the airport. To help manage the problems, the Port Authority is creating a traffic management center where engineers will be able to remotely change lights and shift barriers to break up or avoid gridlock.
Taxi and app-hauled car pickups for Terminal 5, where JetBlue is the main tenant, will be shifted entirely away from the terminal. Taxi lines, now in front of the terminal, will spend several years on the ground floor of a garage reached by a pedestrian overpass. Uber and Lyft riders will need to take the AirTrain to Terminal 7, where a pickup area is being built on the roof of a different garage.
Starting next month, T1 will lose its AirTrain station; passengers will have to take the train to T4 or T8 and switch to a shuttle bus service back to T1.
The end result is meant to be a shiny modern well-functioning system by 2028 for those with the patience to wade through the process. Only time will tell.
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