AirTrain Flies Down Van Wyck

By DAVID HARRIS

If you’re among the thousands of commuters sitting in perpetual gridlock on the Van Wyck Expressway each morning, take heart, Port Authority officials recently announced that they are on the fast track to complete the AirTrain in record time.

Since construction began on the controversial project in the fall of 1999, those opposed to the plan have continually said that three years is too long to keep the Expressway bottled up.

In an effort to speed up the construction of the billion-dollar project, the Port Authority has formed a coalition with the contractor, the Air Rail Transit Consortium (ARTC), to make building and design simultaneous. In theory, engineers will now be able to more easily accommodate the needs of the public in the planning and execution of the next leg of construction.

If it seems like those concrete support columns are springing up along the median like wild onions, it’s because they are. It takes about 17 hours to complete each one.

Workers erecting the AirTrain columns on the Van Wyck Expwy. will be able to work faster following the information of the AirRail Transit Consortium, officials said. (Inset) The AirTrain of the future. PRESS Photo By Ira Cohen

The first step is pile-driving, in which eight to 10 steel girders are driven into the ground pneumatically. Next the girders are topped with a concrete foundation. Inserted into that foundation is a vertical steel framework called a rebar cage, over which the concrete columns are erected. After the column goes up, the pre-fabricated pieces upon which the train travels can be assembled and lifted into place.

The construction crew completes one column cluster per day, and on some days two. The distance between columns is just over 150 feet. This means that the pile driving phase, which is by far the most disruptive part of the process, never takes place near the same block for more than one day.

"What you see is two years of planning and experience of doing it on site at the airport. One of our biggest concerns is to move quickly to get (past) each home quickly." said Quentin Brathwaite, Project Manager for the Van Wyck portion of the construction.

The city Department of Transportation has instituted a moratorium on all highway traffic during the holiday months and all construction will be halted on Nov 11. Brathwaite estimates that the project will be clear of homes as far north as Linden boulevard by then.

The Committee for Better Transit, a civic group, has been opposed to the AirTrain plan from the beginning, and is currently suing to have state funding for the project cut.

"The drilling is not only disruptive but destructive" said George Haikalis. "The foundations of a number of homes have been cracked by this project already."

According to the Port Authority, while numerous complaints were made, the vast majority have been nuisance complaints, not claims for damages. Of the damage claims, they say, were for sums ranging from $300 to $1,500.

"All substantiated claims were paid through an amended system coordinated through our insurance company to expedite claims to get the check into residents’ hands faster," said Brathwaite. "We are doing everything that can be done to make the work along the expressway less intrusive."

Throughout construction, vibration monitors are being installed on the service roads to ensure that vibration levels are kept within the ranges established by the EPA. Additional monitors will be placed on cross streets approximately 200 to 400 feet from the guide way, both east and west. Pile-driving is by far the most disruptive portion of the process.

"To date, monitors have never exceeded the EPA’s acceptable decibel range," said Brathwaite. "However, in the instances where complaints have been filed we have endeavored to settle them with all haste."

Perhaps the strongest criticism of the project is that the three-mile link from Kennedy to Jamaica has no stops along the route. The light rail passes through a community that opponents say doesn’t want or need the train.

"It doesn’t serve people locally. says Haikalis" you can look at it but not use it.

"For all the digging and congestion and noise," points out Haikalis "when this thing is done this neighborhood will have a train built through its backyard that doesn’t have a single stop in Jamaica."

The argument did not fall on deaf ears.

The Transit Authority began a beautification program at Rockaway Boulevard that includes a recreation center, as well as the York College Aviation Institute.

"When the opinion was voiced to us that the project did not directly benefit the community, we set in motion a set of concessions to see that it benefits indirectly." Brathwaite said. "If you live four minutes from the airport why would you take the train? You could take a cab."

Perhaps the strongest criticism of the project is that it requires travelers to add yet another leg to their airport trek. Haikalis said the shuttle bus that runs from the Howard Beach Station already performs the same service at no cost.

"Most air travelers reject the idea of transferring in the middle of their trip. More people will take the ‘A’ because who wants to pay five dollars for a free ride?"

While Brathwaite concedes that he points out that the A train route doesn’t serve everyone, and was itself criticized on its completion for the same shortcoming.

"There are a lot of people in Queens and Brooklyn who would rather pay $5 and make their flight than pay $35 and sit in traffic. And the train’s present conception doesn’t preclude a future one-seat ride at some point. But you have to have a train system first before you can have a one-seat system."

Carlisle Towery, of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation sees the railway as a means to revitalize downtown Jamaica’s business district.

"Our hope is to make Jamaica a destination," said Towery. "Our interest is to make Jamaica not just a place to go through, but a place to go to."

The aviation industry is the borough’s second largest employer. Forty-three percent of Kennedy’s employees are Queens residents. Port Authority numbers indicate that approximately 7,000 people per day will take the LIRR or MTA to the Air Train. In the end analysis, southeast Queens is to be a part of the financial success of Kennedy Airport’s expansion.

"We expect another 13 million people to use the Airport by 2010. If the Van Wyck is already gridlocked how are they going to get there?"

For more information about the AirTrain, call the port Authority hotline: 877-535-2478.; or visit their website at www.jfkairtrain.com.