NY Budget Highlights 3 Queens Infrastructure Projects For 2022

QUEENS — New York's budget includes three Queens infrastructure projects that have been long maligned: The Kew Gardens Interchange, the third track of the LIRR and LaGuardia Airport, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

Amidst a national debate about what constitutes infrastructure sparked by President Biden's unveiling of a sweeping $2 trillion plan last month, Cuomo defined his state-wide project as a “building and transportation network… and economic platform.”

Starting with the Kews Garden Interchange, Cuomo was quick to remind observers that he’s from Queens — after a gaffe earlier this week when he mispronounced Rochdale Village during an event in the neighborhood — and knows firsthand that the interchange has been “a nightmare for decades."

"I remember my father saying ‘why don’t they do something about this?’ Well they is us, and we’re going to have it completed in 2022,” he said.

Work on the interchange began in 2010 and has ballooned to a $700 million price tag.

Next, he said that the “third track” expansion of the LIRR, which would better connect commuters from Long Island to Queens and the rest of the city, will be completed this year after it broke ground in 2018.

“That’s going to revolutionize the commute from Long Island,” said the governor, adding that during the pandemic, “commuting can’t be running the gauntlet. Commuting has to be pleasant, fast, and predictable.”

The project was recently paused after a construction worker was nearly electrocuted to death, reported the New York Daily News.

The final Queens-related project that he mentioned is the completion of LaGuardia Airport improvements which began reconstruction in 2016 and was slated for completion this year.

Governor Cuomo also said he is “moving forward” with the construction of a $2 billion AirTrain, which he says will “cut down travel time” despite opposing claims from transit experts, and pushback from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.