'Organized chaos': $19bn airport megaproject takes shape in cramped NY

by Gregory WALTON

New York's JFK airport is an overlapping patchwork of open terminals, giant building sites and burgeoning infrastructure, wedged in by thousands of homes on one side and the ocean on the other.

Passengers and project executives alike describe the $19 billion mega-project to completely overhaul the United States' largest global aviation gateway as "organized chaos" -- even as the airport remains open and passenger numbers grow.

"For me, it's the most complex project I've ever worked on," said Gina Bigler, a senior engineer of construction at the JFK Redevelopment Program to entirely remodel the airport that handles more international passengers than any other in North America.

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Around her, temporary bridges redirected roads to make space for new permanent crossings and flyovers, while giant excavators shifted sandy earth near two brand new terminals in varying stages of completion.

"There's multiple different contractors and the fact is the passenger volume is way higher than other projects," said Bigler, wearing a hardhat and high-vis jacket as she watched the delivery of plastic piping to the site of a new parking garage.

"We have the constant push and pull of who's going to go first. There's tons of conversations."

A complex web of contractors, terminal tenants, investment consortiums and airlines all coordinate with the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey (PANYNJ) which oversees every aspect of the project, from what art will be displayed in terminals to the tiles selected for the bathrooms.

- Political headwinds -

Despite the Coronavirus disruption and the project's scale and complexity, currently the largest of its type in the US, the redevelopment remains on budget and on schedule.

Collaboration between the airport owner and private businesses guaranteed "oversight from a public oversight perspective," said JFK Millennium Partners CEO Steve Thody, responsible for the airport's new Terminal Six.

"But it allows you to bring private money into the deal, which allows you to advance infrastructure probably at a faster pace than you could do otherwise."

PANYNJ executive director Rick Cotton said that approach -- with no taxpayer money involved -- meant the airport redevelopment was insulated from political headwinds as it did not depend on federal funding.

The way Cotton's agency was structured meant it could "prioritize the transportation priorities of the region -- and it was precisely intended to have political considerations take a back seat."

Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from states and cities that do not bend to his will, like Illinois over immigration sanctuary policies.

At the airport, the new Terminal Six is long but narrow, wedged in to the limited space available between runways and a people-mover track.

The largest piece of the puzzle is the entirely new Terminal One. Measuring 2.5 million square feet (232,000 square meters), the cavernous $9.5 billion megastructure is shaped like a butterfly taking flight and used as much steel as five Eiffel Towers.

Financing came from an unprecedented public-private tie-up that reportedly included a $6.5 billion bank loan.

- Environmental concerns -

Ultimately, the goal is to create airy new terminal space and eradicate the massive traffic jams currently plaguing approaches to the airport.

Recognizing the proximity to dense neighborhoods and businesses, the airport has worked to reduce dust, noise and traffic at the sprawling construction project.

But campaigners are critical of green initiatives around inherently polluting sites like airports, with aviation accounting for two to three percent of total current global human-induced carbon emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Cotton, of the PANYNJ, acknowledged that "obviously, the transportation sector generates a lot of greenhouse gasses."

But he said redeveloped JFK would offer airlines more sustainable fuel, as well as electrifying airside vehicles and installing New York's largest solar array.

It has also made use of giant barges to ship in construction material and steel for the terminals and new bridges, taking some 300,000 truckloads off the congested local roads according to project leaders.