By Media Relations Staff

The Port Authority’s proposed 2017-2026 Capital Plan – a record $32.2 billion spending commitment to essential new transportation projects and revitalizing and maintaining current facilities — has been introduced by the agency’s Board of Commissioners. Now, it’s the public’s turn.

Two public meetings are scheduled to elicit public input on a range of critical transportation projects in the 10-year plan, which is designed for new and existing facilities across the agency’s airports, terminals, bridges, ports, tunnels and PATH.

The first meeting is set for Tuesday, January 31 at 4 World Trade Center, 150 Greenwich St. in New York from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. The second will be from 5 p.m.-8p.m. on Tuesday, February 7 at the Port Authority’s 2 Montgomery St. offices in Jersey City. Attendees who wish to speak must register in advance, at http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/pages/capital-plan-speaker-registration.

Members of the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners, Executive Director Pat Foye and Chief Financial Officer Libby McCarthy will attend the meetings. The meetings are an integral piece of the board’s deliberation process, part of a month-long public review and comment period, and public comments can also be sent through February 15 to publiccomments@panynj.gov.  A vote on the plan is scheduled for the board’s February 16 meeting.

The new Terminal B under construction at LaGuardia Airport

Key projects outlined in the plan include a new Port Authority Bus Terminal, redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport, a new AirTrain system for LaGuardia Airport, a new Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport and Terminals C and D at LaGuardia, and extending PATH to the rail link station at Newark Liberty.

The existing Port Authority Bus Terminal

Other key components include:

• $8.8 billion in critical renewal projects, including nearly $2 billion to restore the George Washington Bridge, $1.4 billion to replace the Lincoln Tunnel Helix and $550 million to replace wharves and piers.
• $7.6 billion for the completion of projects currently in construction: LaGuardia Airport’s continuing Terminal B project, PATH’s signal replacement and upgrades to its Harrison and Grove Street stations, and funds to support the Bayonne Bridge navigational clearance program and Goethals Bridge replacement, among others.
• $2.7 billion committed to payment of debt service from anticipated low-interest federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loans to the Gateway Program Development Corporation, for the planned trans-Hudson rail tunnels and Portal Bridge North projects.