>>1559137NY Governor Cuomo and the Port Authority actually are currently proposing an Airtrain to LGA. The proposed route is very bad - it would run from the Airport to Willets Point, turning AWAY from Manhattan. This route was chosen because it would impact the least residential properties, mostly running along the highway or marshland. However, aside from being farther away from Manhattan and most of the city, Willets Point is a bad destination because it's only served by one subway line and one single railroad line. For comparison, the JFK Airtrain connects to two subway lines and almost a dozen different branches of the Long Island Railroad at Jamaica, and also connects to one subway line at Howard Beach.
Other the past few decades, there have been other proposals for rail connections to LaGuardia - such as extending the N/W subway lines from Astoria to LaGuardia, or building an Airtrain from LGA to Jackson Heights and Woodside (Jackson Heights has five subway lines, and Woodside is served by multiple LIRR branches). However, those ideas usually failed to gain traction due to concerns about local opposition (in the case of the N/W, as it's an elevated line in Astoria and the el would have to be extended a couple of blocks to the end of the residential neighborhood) and/or property takings in the case of a Jackson Heights/Woodside route.
Advocates have also suggested giving the Q70 bus route (which runs from LGA along the highway to Jackson Heights and Woodside) dedicated bus lanes to avoid traffic in lieu of replacing it with an Airtrain, but the environmental studies claimed it wouldn't be attractive enough/too disruptive to traffic. The backwards Airtrain is projected to cause $2 billion (likely more once it's finished) because construction costs in NY are so insane. It's a terrible idea. Even many transit enthusiasts here in NY oppose it. But Cuomo really wants flashy infrastructure projects that will make him look good - he will shove it through.
