Update

Results for the LaGuardia transit review were announced on March 13, 2023 and the proposed AirTrain is no longer on the table!

After 5 years of sustained engagement and advocacy, we did it—the project is officially scrapped. Guardians of Flushing Bay played a central role in developing a coalition of community partners and citywide advocates, organizing town halls, press conferences, and community forums, and joining with Riverkeeper and the Ditmars Blvd Block Association to fight for a fair review process in the courts.

We appreciate everyone who organized, advocated, litigated, spread the word, voiced concerns, wrote in comments, and supported in whatever capacity they could. Huge shoutout to our community organizers, dragon boaters, and everyone in the Sensible Ways to LGA coalition who made this win possible!

What Was the Laguardia Airtrain?

Port Authority’s Preferred Route

In October 2018, the PANYNJ released a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a consultant to spearhead the environmental review process for the LaGuardia Airport Access Improvement Project (LGA AirTrain) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). PANYNJ selected Ricando as the project lead. (Learn more about NEPA here.)

The RFP outlined PANYNJ’s preferred alternative: an AirTrain that would run from LGA to Willets Point, span more than a quarter of the Malcolm X Promenade, and connect to the Willets Point 7 Train and Long Island Rail Road station. The RFP included traffic and ridership studies funded by PANYNJ. 

The Sensible Ways to LGA Coalition

The Sensible Ways to LGA Coalition formed in 2018 to advocate for a robust and thorough environmental review that considered all alternatives for public transit to LGA evenly. Members include the Ditmars Blvd Block Association, Riverkeeper, Flushing Chamber of Commerce, Jackson Heights Beautification Group, Guardians of Flushing Bay, Reinvent Albany, and Riders Alliance.

The NEPA Process

The project required a federal environmental review process because it uses a Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) to pay for the project. A PFC is a fare tacked onto a passenger’s ticket that pays for airport facility projects. FAA was the lead agency for the environmental review because they are the agency that approves the use of a PFC.

The AirTrain NEPA process includes 5 key components: 1) public scoping period, 2) transit alternatives analysis, 3) draft environmental impact statement, 4) final environmental impact statement, and 5) record of decision.

1. Scoping Period

After two initial community leaders meetings in April 2019, the environmental review process began on May 3, 2019. The initial scoping period ended on June 17, after a 45-day public comment period and two public meetings. The results of the scoping study, conducted over a 45-day period from May to June, can be found in full here. The study showed serious concern with the proposed project. Of the 414 written and oral comments, only 13% supported the project.

3. Draft Environmental Impact Statement

The DEIS is the initial release of FAA’s environmental review of the project. It includes a 45-day comment period for the public. The LGA AirTrain DEIS, released in September 2020, continued to push through Port Authority’s preferred route: an elevated AirTrain running from Willets Point to LGA.

Read our submitted comments below! In addition to our comments, GoFB raised public awareness of the potential use of federal stimulus funds for the project. Click here to see the letter we wrote with support from East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights community members asking NY and NJ Congressional Representatives to refuse Port Authority’s request to allot federal stimulus funding to the LGA AirTrain.

- Submitted Comments -

• Read GoFB’s comments with sign-ons from local dragon boaters, economic equity organizations in Downtown Flushing, local park users, environmental advocates in Jackson Heights, and residents in East Elmhurst.

• Read Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic’s comments submitted on behalf of Riverkeeper, which deftly describe the root of the problem of the review—it’s tailor-made to approve the proposed AirTrain.

• Check out Sensible Ways to LGA’s comments with over 90 pages of critiques from local community and park users

• Here’s an article from Queens Chronicle with our comment highlights.

4. Final Environmental Impact Statement

In March 2021, the FAA released the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which only meaningfully evaluated the proposed LGA AirTrain option. GoFB took action and compiled a comprehensive #WrongWayAirTrain Action Guide that communities used to call on FAA and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to demand an LGA AirTrain environmental review do-over.

In Spring 2021, after over a year-long lawsuit led by Riverkeeper against Port Authority for correspondence documents between the agency and FAA, Riverkeeper gained access to evidence that Port Authority’s initial transit alternative screening criteria were cherry-picked to favor and secure the construction of the AirTrain. Our communities rallied together to call on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to take action!

5. Record of Decision

In June 2021, the FAA publicly delayed its decision on the proposed AirTrain project, stating that they needed more time to review the project in response to congressional and community opposition. Soon after on July 20, the FAA released the Record of Decision (ROD) for the federal actions reviewed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, approving Port Authority’s application to construct a $2.05 billion elevated AirTrain that would carry passengers between the Mets-Willets Point subway station at Citi Field and the LaGuardia Airport, consequently taking Flushing Meadows Corona Park parkland and cutting an environmental justice community off from their waterfront park.