NY transport hubs get US$22b boost

New York

THE New York City metro area took a giant step towards revitalising its crumbling capacity-strained transport hubs on Thursday as a major bi-state agency authorised up to US$22 billion of spending on air, rail and bus infrastructure.

Officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency responsible for much of the region's transportation infrastructure, authorised the spending in what officials said was the biggest one-day capital allocation in its history.

The spending includes US$4 billion to redevelop LaGuardia Airport, which US Vice-President Joe Biden likened to a Third World country; US$2.3 billion for Newark Airport; up to US$15 billion for a new bus terminal in Manhattan; and US$70 million for preliminary work on a US$20 billion rail project that included a new tunnel under the Hudson River to alleviate pressure on a pair of century-old tunnels in desperate …