The term airport was officially created in Atlantic City, New Jersey on what appears to be May 10, 1920.

Bader Field was named after former Atlantic City Mayor Edward Bader as an “airport” because it was accessible by air and water. The headlines read, “Atlantic City, the new AirPort.”

Fast forward 102 years and there’s no rail service, a monorail, or any kind of effective transportation from the Atlantic City International (ACY) to the City of Atlantic City.

This is unimaginable, as it is a distance of only 14 miles and it should have been properly addressed decades ago.

New Jersey Senator Vince Polistina, R-2 has started a conversation to try and address this blatant deficiency.

Polistina sees Atlantic City International Airport as a great, but, underused asset. He doesn’t believe that taxis or other ride-sharing alternatives are acceptable forms of transportation for Atlantic City to compete as a destination resort.

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We believe that Polistina should expand his call to action to include rail or some other form of ground service from Philadelphia to Atlantic City.

The need is even greater from Philadelphia to Atlantic City versus Atlantic City International Airport to Atlantic City.

Polistina could be this generation’s version of the late Senator Frank S. “Hap” Farley.

It was Farley who delivered the Atlantic City Expressway. Without this road, you can’t overstate what a competitive disadvantage Atlantic City would have faced moving vehicular traffic into Atlantic City.

Construction of the Atlantic City Expressway began in the summer of 1962.

Resorts International Hotel and Casino opened in 1978. This began 30 years of a prosperous monopoly for Atlantic City, with more than a dozen more hotel/casinos opening during this time of unprecedented growth.

The Atlantic City Expressway has been essential to Atlantic City’s overall operating success.

There have been more than 40 years (during the casino era) to properly address basic transportation needs from Philadelphia International Airport to Atlantic City.

Polistina is an engineer by trade. He is aware that there is existing right of ways and existing rail lines that should be examined as a possible solution to the long-standing local shortfall.

More than 20 million guests per year come to Atlantic City to vacation.

With New York casinos likely coming on board in the next 3-4 years, now is the time to fix structural problems like basic transportation.

Polistina is looking for input from anyone who has ideas for potentially workable solutions.

We’ve been talking about this problem for more than 30 years.

The time for talking about it must end, in favor of actually finding and implementing solutions.

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