New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 28 unveiled a $4 billion construction project that aims to tear down and rebuild large parts of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York.

Image courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Pedestrian walkways, part of a $4 billion plan to develop LaGuardia Airport, would increase aircraft taxi space.

The gateway project is being developed in concert with separate development efforts by Delta Air Lines, which operates in terminals A, C and D.

“We are transforming LaGuardia into a globally-renowned, 21^st century airport that is worthy of the city and state of New York,” Cuomo said, calling the project a metaphor for what “made this the Empire State in the first place.”

The gateway project, expected to break ground in the first half of next year and open to passengers in 2019 with full completion 18 months later, is being managed by LaGuardia Gateway Partners, a public-private partnership chosen by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey via a competitive solicitation in May 2015.

LGP will be responsible for designing, building, financing, operating, and maintaining the new terminal under a 35-year lease. The LGP consortium consists of Vantage Airport Group, a joint venture of Skanska and Walsh Construction, a design joint venture of HOK and Parsons Brinckerhoff, and a global infrastructure investment fund comprised of Vantage, Skanska, and Meridiam, which will provide the committed equity investment.

The Port Authority is contributing $2.2 billion to the project over the next 10 years.

The second half of the plan to unify LaGuardia is expected to be developed by Delta on a parallel track with LaGuardia Gateway Partners.