Dive Brief:
- A new construction support facility at the $19 billion redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, aims to reduce truck traffic and environmental impact, according to a press release from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
- The construction support facility will employ barges to transport materials to and from the airport, eliminating over 300,000 truck trips on local streets. In addition, a batch plant will produce concrete on site, while a crushing facility will recycle old material.
- The facility will result in reduced emissions and disbursal of dust and other particulates associated with the transportation of construction materials and construction debris, while making efficient use of the airport’s water access for transfer of bulk materials, according to the release.
Dive Insight:
The Port Authority awarded earlier this year the contract to build and operate the on-airport construction support facility to Melville, New York-based Modern Efficient Transport. Under that contract, Modern Efficient Transport already built the marine transport facility that uses water access to JFK at the western end of the airport property.
The first barge unloaded at that dock on the western edge of the airport on Sept. 27. That single barge eliminated the need for nearly 200 trucks to carry the equivalent load, according to the release.
Barges will carry bulk materials, such as sand, aggregate, steel and other building materials, to the airport and remove non-hazardous debris and soil from the construction sites on the airport, according to the Port Authority. Those barges have the capacity to responsibly recycle up to 75% of certain categories of construction debris, according to the release.
Meanwhile, the concrete batch plant will use local suppliers from the communities immediately surrounding JFK, according to the release. The plant will provide all the concrete to support construction, including for the two largest terminals and all the roads, parking garages and other infrastructure at JFK, according to the Port Authority.
“Creating a construction support facility that enables us to eliminate hundreds of thousands of diesel-powered trucks from traveling across local streets is proof of the Port Authority’s commitment to our goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions agency-wide by 2050,” said Rick Cotton, executive director for the Port Authority.
