New Flyover Highway Open To Traffic At LaGuardia Airport
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A new so-called flyover highway opened to traffic Wednesday at LaGuardia Airport.
The new roadway now allows drivers direct access to terminals B, C and D from exit 7 on the Grand Central Parkway. It's the first of 26 new bridges and flyovers planned for LaGuardia.
"This flyover is going to make a dramatic improvement on the traffic," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. "This road configuration as soon as you got off the Grand Central Parkway made no sense."
Forty percent of the traffic coming from Manhattan is expected to use the new ramp. Cuomo held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday, marking the milestone.
When the construction is complete, what the governor refers to as a spaghetti bowl of interchanges will go from 19 traffic signals to just three.
"It's gonna be much easier to navigate," he said. "You won't have to do that seek and destroy mission."
Officials hope the direct access will mean no more nightmare traffic backups with people forced to get out of their cars and walk to the terminals in order to catch their flights.
The new roadways are part of the ongoing $8 billion modernization of the airport.
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