The Port Authority board approved a $4.5 billion annual budget yesterday.It emphasizes downtown PATH reconstruction, a new PATH fare collection system and ongoing work on the JFK AirTrain.The AirTrain is scheduled to open fully from Jamaica to JFK Airport during the first half of 2003.Other major elements are re-decking the Outerbridge Crossing, ferry terminal development at Battery Park City, LaGuardia Airport and Hoboken.

The Star-Ledger reported Friday that the budget defers the Goethals Bridge “twin” project and expansion of a Newark Airport terminal.The last time the Ledger wrote that the PA had acknowledged that adding highway capacity at the Goethals was generally unpopular and likely to fall below the agency’s radar screen in the wake of September 11, the agency responded by claiming that the project “remains a priority” (MTR #349).Elements in the Port Authority are clearly having trouble giving up on the Goethals twin, but it appears that, as has been the case for the past eight years, the project will continue to exist only in planning limbo. 

Port Authority Not Giving up on Goethals Twin (Jan. 22, 2002)

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