New York officials have joined their counterparts in Newark in supporting the effort to keep proposed PATH rail extension to Newark airport off the Port Authority's fiscal chopping block.



A letter to top Port Authority officials pitches the $1.5 billion PATH extension as a benefit to New Yorkers, providing a 35-minute ride to the airport from lower Manhattan.

It was signed by officials from the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association and the Association for a Better New York, in addition to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and the Global Gateway Alliance, a group which supports airport improvements.

Newark ranks second-to-last for mass transit access among the world's top 30 busiest airports and the letter signers consider the airport extension as starting in Manhattan, at PATH's World Trade Center terminal, which connects to 11 subway lines.

Construction could start in 2018.

Supporters of building a new Port Authority Bus Terminal, which Port Authority officials put in the agency capital plan, proposed eliminating the PATH extension as a way to help fund that project.

"Striking one for the other would represent an extraordinary admission of horse trading guiding the capital plan, instead of overall regional planning," said the letter.

Port Authority officials admitted to horse-trading support by New York commissioners for a new Manhattan bus terminal in exchange for New Jersey commissioners support of a new LaGuardia airport central terminal in March.

Port Authority officials said in March they planned to return to the board at a later date with a revised capital plan.



Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.