Lost Industries

[Kris]

Industries That Got Away (http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20040308/200/906)

[normaldude]

..New York City is falling behind other cities because its airports, warehouses, and most of all, its highways are outdated. The Van Wyck Expressway and the Belt Parkway - the only major highways leading to Kennedy Airport are often jammed up with traffic.

The city is trying to upgrade its airports. It recently completed the AirTrain, which will hopefully ease some traffic congestion. Kennedy has built two new terminals and LaGuardia is upgrading. But unclogging New York City’s highways are a long-term problem that will continue to cost jobs and business.

Yet another reason to extend the N train to LaGuardia..

[TLOZ Link5]

It will take decades to upgrade the highways, for that matter.

[dbhstockton]

I would have liked to see more info on how these trends relate to the region as a whole. The area around me in central New Jersey is an endless sprawl of large suburban industrial plants, corporate headquarters, and research complexes, illustrating the vital importance of having a modern transportation infrastructure, in addition to cheaper and more plentiful land. Unfortunately, The number of sites in NYC proper that can accommodate these kinds of operations are very limited. Bloomerg is right to shift his focus to smaller businesses. NYC's capacity to host smaller-scale industrial operations has been woefully underutilized for far too long.