Barges replace trucks for JFK Airport redevelopment

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Official response and confirmed impact

The $19 billion redevelopment of New York’s John F.

Kennedy International Airport has used barges to replace trucks moving construction material and debris, an innovative strategy that has eliminated the need for 250,000 truck trips on congested local roads, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says.

Barges that can each carry 200 truckloads of material have been docking along Bergen Basin, on the western edge of the airport across from the Hamilton Beach neighborhood in Queens.

In an announcement timed for “Climate Week NYC” events in the city, Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said “we are proud to say that we have lived up to that commitment by replacing thousands of trucks with a barging operation that is safer, cleaner and more sustainable while building a new airport that our region and our closet neighbors can be proud of.”

Incident background

An adjoining 12-acre site on includes a concrete production plant and a concrete crushing facility, to recycle construction debris and re-use it in building roads and other projects, further reducing needs to truck in materials.