Project to improve bus link to LaGuardia Airport project underway

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey initiated the process Thursday to build a new bus route to LaGuardia Airport and improve an existing route.

The board vote for $30 million in funding for the project makes good on the recommendations of an expert panel convened after Gov. Kathy Hochul killed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $2.1 billion AirTrain plan to LaGuardia.

The plans call for adding a dedicated bus lane on the Q70 line. There will also be a new route running from the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard subway stop.

Only electric buses will run both routes.

“Gov. Hochul believes that New Yorkers deserve world-class transportation to world-class airports,” Hochul spokesperson John Lindsay wrote in an email.

The Port Authority estimates it will take two to three years to make upgrades to the Q70 route. The new bus route will take four to five years to build. The cost of the entire project is estimated at $500 million.

“A vital part of building world-class airports is creating the modern and efficient public transportation that will get passengers and the public to our new facilities,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole wrote in a statement.

In addition to adding the bus routes, the plan also calls for adding elevators to the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard stop, which currently has none. The station is not on the MTA’s list of stations due for an upgrade in its current capital plan. Travelers toting luggage at the station would benefit from an elevator to the street to catch the bus.

Funding for new elevators at the station has not yet been allocated, MTA spokesperson Joanna Flores confirmed.

The city Department of Transportation declined to comment on the new planned bus lanes.