New Tower For LaG Airport
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. breaks ground on a new air traffic control tower at LaGuardia with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, Borough President Helen MarshalL and representatives from other elected officials.

After years of fighting for a new air traffic control tower for busy LaGuardia Airport to ease crippling flight delays and provide more safety in directing air traffic, a new facility is now underway with completion expected by 2010.

Action by Congressmember Joseph Crowley and United States Senator Charles Schumer got approval of $63 million funding for the long-sought project just before the approval period was to expire. Both lawmakers and federal and local airport officials hailed the new project at groundbreaking ceremonies at LaGuardia last Wednesday.

Schumer (D- New York) declared: "Today's groundbreaking is a crucial step towards giving air traffic controllers and New York passengers the first-class treatment they deserve. After a year filled with flight delays and near-runway accidents in the New York City area, this new control tower is essential to reducing delays and improving safety on the ground and in the skies."

Crowley (D- Queens/The Bronx), in whose district the airport is located, stated, "A new air control tower will vastly improve safety standards and efficiency at LaGuardia, a major national transportation hub serving tens of millions of passengers annually. We will finally be able to see the fruits of our labor after fighting in Congress for years to get this project to replace the deteriorating old tower."

Crowley thanked Schumer and his colleague, Congressmember Nita Lowey (D- Westchester), who before redistricting had represented a part of Queens, "for their work in helping to secure these funds for this critical step in improving air safety at LaGuardia".

Lowey said the new tower would immediately improve safety and efficiency at one of the country's busiest airports. The airport in Jackson Heights- East Elmhurst is the 17th busiest in the nation.

Also at the groundbreaking for the new, taller and larger tower was Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey, who dedicated it to the millions of future passengers that will be served by it.

Officials said 26 million passengers are presently served by LaGuardia. Estimates project that figure to increase to about 32 million passengers.

Crowley said the new tower would have the technological capability to allow aircraft to land during periods of inclement weather, thus reducing delays.

The existing tower opened 43 years ago just before the 1964 World's Fair opened. Crowley noted that air traffic controllers assigned there have been plagued by the decrepit state of the tower, which has developed leaks and had water pouring into it.

"On numerous occasions, water has leaked onto the equipment and the controllers, interrupting operations and compromising the safety and efficiency of air traffic operations," Crowley said.

William De Cota, director of aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, thanked the FAA for the new facility and "for what they do in terms of funding the tower and staffing the tower".

Compared to the present tower, where personnel work in cramped quarters on outdated equipment, the new tower will be 233 feet tall, more than twice the height of the existing one, and the working space will be twice that of the current tower.

According to officials, the new tower will have modern, improved high-tech equipment which will give the controllers the ability to operate with greater efficiency in directing flight operations.

Controllers will also have the capability, using state of the art viewing equipment, to see objects more clearly on taxiways and runways without requiring visual confirmation.

Crowley, tracing the major steps toward the development of the new tower, said the site was selected in 1994 and the initial environmental assessment was approved three years later. The final design was completed a year ago and construction began Dec. 4, 2006.