As a part of the recent movement by New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, to upgrade the infrastructure of the city, John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport is to be renovated with a total budget of $10 billion. The city’s busiest airport and one of the United States busiest as well suffers a poor reputation because of the overcrowding, difficulty of access, and delayed flights; a reputation that is not becoming of a global city’s airport.
Courtesy of State of New York
JFK Airport has received 60 million passengers in 2016, and the number is expected to increase to 75 million in 2030 and 100 million in 2050. However, to keep the passengers coming, the upgrading of the airport is deemed necessary. The upgrading plan includes three major points which are: the unification of the airport, the improvement of road access to the airports, and the expansion of rail mass-transit. The airport is to be unified by connecting all the terminals through the expansion of the newer ones and, possibly, the relocation of the older ones. As for the accessibility, the adjacent roads are to be modified into a ring road, and the parking area shall be centralized and expanded. Finally, in addition to expanding the rail mass transit options, the viability of a one-seat-ride to JFK Airport is under study.
Courtesy of State of New York
Apart from these points, the airport renovation plan introduces other developments to enhance the user experience like fine dining, duty-free and retail shopping, conference rooms, and other facilities along the lines of the TWA Flight Center Hotel which is to open in 2018. Also, there is the important issue of security which was given a well-deserved attention, considering the current events. New technologies like facial recognition and video tracking software will be integrated into the development process.
Courtesy of State of New York
The upgrading of JFK Airport seems to be worth every penny, given its role in the economy of New York. Pat Foye, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, says that “For every million passengers that JFK fails to accommodate, the region loses approximately $140million in wages, $400million in sales, and 2,500 jobs.” So, turning these numbers from losses to assets can be a remarkable success.
Yosra is an architect, writer, and teacher. She is always into learning something new. Her life motto is: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” One day she will travel the world and visit its architectural wonders. In the meanwhile, she contends herself with reading and writing about them.