'Organised chaos': copy9bn airport megaproject takes shape in cramped NY

New York's JFK airport is an overlapping patchwork of open terminals, giant building sites and burgeoning infrastructure, wedged in by thousands of homes on one side and the ocean on the other. Passengers and project executives alike describe the US$9b mega-project to completely overhaul the United States' largest global aviation gateway as "organized chaos" -- even as the airport remains open and passenger numbers grow. "For me, it's the most complex project I've ever worked on," said Gina Bigler, a senior engineer of construction at the JFK Redevelopment Program to entirely remodel the airport that handles more international passengers than any other in North America. Around her, temporary bridges redirected roads to make space for new permanent crossings and flyovers, while giant excavators shifted sandy earth near two brand new terminals in varying stages of completion. "There's multiple different contractors and the fact is the passenger volume is way higher than other projects," said Bigler, wearing a hardhat and high-vis jacket as she watched the delivery of plastic piping to the site of a new parking garage. "We have the constant push and pull of who's going to go first. There's tonnes of conversations." A complex web of contractors, terminal tenants, investment consortiums and airlines all coordinate with the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey (PANYNJ) which oversees every aspect of the project, from what art will be displayed in terminals to the tiles selected for the bathrooms. Despite the Coronavirus disruption and the project's scale and complexity, currently the largest of its type in the US, the redevelopment remains on budget and on schedule. Collaboration between the airport owner and private businesses guaranteed "oversight from a public oversight perspective," said JFK Millennium Partners CEO Steve Thody, responsible for the airport's new Terminal Six.<br/>