The effort to replace the AirTrain, which has been estimated to cost more than $2 billion, is already underway.
Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Port Authority Launches Plan to Transform Newark Airport ‘From Worst to Best’

The plan, announced Thursday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, includes replacing the rickety AirTrain network and the airport’s dilapidated Terminal B.

by · NY Times

Newark Liberty International Airport has been described many ways in its 96 years. But it has probably not been called world class, at least not recently.

In fact, the airport has a longstanding reputation as one of the least appealing transportation hubs in the United States. But on Thursday, officials from the agency that runs it said they intended to take New Jersey’s largest airport “from worst to best.”

Their unveiling of a “vision plan” for the transformation of the airport was light on details. The officials from the agency, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, did not know how much it would cost or how long it would take.

But the officials made the announcement inside the airport’s massive Terminal A, which opened at Newark Liberty two years ago at a cost of $2.7 billion. That award-winning terminal, along with two new terminals at nearby La Guardia Airport in New York City, set the standard for what the entire airport in Newark could be, the officials said.

The transformation of Newark Liberty will include replacing the most dilapidated of the airport’s three terminals — the 51-year-old Terminal B, which has in part relied for years on portable toilets — and the rickety AirTrain that connects the terminals to parking lots and commuter trains. Someday, it may also include replacing Terminal C, a major United Airlines hub, they said.

The AirTrain project, which has been estimated to cost more than $2 billion, is underway. But the route the new AirTrain will take is still indefinite because the location of the new Terminal B is uncertain.

The new terminal will have to be built before the old Terminal B can be demolished, said Rick Cotton, the Port Authority’s executive director.

“We know how to do this,” Mr. Cotton said, citing lessons learned during the rebuilding of La Guardia’s terminals while that airport continued to operate at full tilt. “One thing we learned is you have to plan for the peaks.”

Mr. Cotton said he was confident that the Port Authority’s planners would “avoid anyone having to get out of their cars” before reaching the new terminals at Newark Liberty, a reference to the traffic jams during construction at La Guardia that forced travelers to abandon their taxis and drag their luggage along the highway to avoid missing their flights.

The authority’s director of aviation redevelopment, Jacquelene McCarthy, said that navigating Newark Liberty had always been very difficult, leaving some drivers to circle the airport more than once to locate a terminal. Untangling the airport’s “spaghetti of roads” would be one of the plan’s goals, she said.

Newark Liberty was designed to include a central roadway in the shape of an egg with a Marriott hotel at its center, she said. The broad plan for modernizing the airport involves an “implosion” of Terminal B, she said.

The new Terminal B would be constructed to the west of the existing one, placing it closer to the hotel, if not replacing it, Ms. McCarthy said. Asked if the Marriott would stay put, she said, “As of now, yes.”

A primary goal of the vision plan would be “to deliver a world-class passenger experience,” Ms. McCarthy said.

“Good luck with that,” said Steve Reilly, a resident of Audubon, N.J., who was sitting in the crowded food court in Terminal B.

He and his fellow travelers, three other retired military veterans headed for a cruise on the Danube River, expressed doubts that Newark Liberty would ever be as easy to use as some airports overseas, like those in Bangkok or Doha, Qatar.

The Port Authority is a highly politicized agency controlled by the governors of the two states. Traditionally, its commissioners, who are appointed by the governors, have insisted that the agency spread its resources evenly across the border.

The authority is in the midst of overseeing a $19 billion revamp of Kennedy International Airport in Queens, after the $8 billion rebuild of La Guardia. New Jersey officials have responded with demands for their state to share in the spoils, said Kevin O’Toole, the authority’s chairman and a New Jersey resident.

Mr. O’Toole said that M. Teresa Ruiz, a state senator whose district includes Newark, had implored him: “Don’t forget about Newark, don’t forget about New Jersey.”

Ms. Ruiz said she expected the airport to provide more of a sense of place, like she said the new Terminal A does. “If you go into other terminals, sometimes you will get the impression you’re in the state of New York,” she said.

Ms. McCarthy said the Port Authority had heard from several community groups about the vision plan last year. They wanted better access for local residents to the airport and to jobs there, she said.

The groups also “don’t want it to be branded as the gateway to New York,” she said. They had a different idea: “the gateway to New Jersey.”

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