The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey selected a joint venture from Tutor Perini Corp. and O&G Industries Inc. to design and build the interterminal AirTrain at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
The agency’s board of commissioners voted Nov. 14 to award the $1.184 million design-build contract to Tutor Perini/O&G for the project, which includes a 2.5-mile elevated rail structure and three stations to replace their existing transit system.
Construction is expected to begin in 2025 and passenger service is expected in 2030.
The board also voted to increase the project’s budget to $3.5 billion. The agency attributes the $1.45 billion increase over the previously approved $2.05 billion to a five-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.
The vote “marks the next chapter in the effort to fully transform Newark Liberty International Airport into a world-class gateway worthy of our region,” said Port Authority President Kevin O’Toole in a statement. “As we work on a new modern airport in Newark that will include new or expanded airport facilities, a reliable mass transit system at the airport will ensure that passengers and airport workers can get where they need to go in a new status of… the state-of-the-art AirTrain system.”
The Tutor Perini/O&G joint venture has worked on 11 major infrastructure projects across the country, including the Los Angeles Metro, the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Los Angeles International Airport and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The JV was also just announced as the apparent selected proponent for the Manhattan Prison Facility Design and Build project as part of the prison system’s $15.6 billion program.
The AirTrain carried approximately 12 million passengers a year before the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2024, AirTrain served nearly 5.5 million passengers.
The agency says the existing outdated system that opened in 1996 is not compatible with the airport’s recently opened larger Terminal A. In October, the airport announced plans to demolish and rebuild the facility’s 51-year-old Terminal B as part of the airport’s EWR. vision plan Design firms Arup and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have been hired for this effort.
The Port Authority says it has completed 80% of the procurement process for the project. In August, the agency selected Stantec to design the new maintenance and control facility and pedestrian connectors, and to decommission the existing AirTrain. In December 2023, the Port Authority selected Doppelmayr, for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the automated system for transporting people and their vehicles.
The agency says it hopes to award smaller packages related to the construction of AirTrain maintenance and control facilities and pedestrian connectors, and decommissioning the current system.
“Our major airports are this region’s gateways to the rest of the world and ensuring easy and reliable public transport to and from the airport is critical,” said the Port Authority’s chief executive. Rick Cotton in a statement. “As we embark on Newark’s vision plan, a new AirTrain is essential both to meet growing volumes at our airports and to provide a world-class passenger experience for Newark Liberty passengers.”
