New York Governor Andrew Cuomo alongside Vice President Joe Biden officially unveiled the proposed design for the new LaGuardia Airport earlier this week. The $4 billion revamp will transform the airport into a single, structurally unified main terminal, including expanded transportation access and increased taxiway space, and new top-notch passenger amenities.

The overhaul aims to alleviate the air-ground congestion and gate delays that have long plagued the airport — to the point where Biden previously described it as a place one would find in "some third world country". According to a report by the Governor’s Airport Master Plan Advisory Panel, the LaGuardia Airport is "consistently rated as among the worst airports in the world".

Groundbreaking of the first half of the project is expected to start in 2016, once the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey grants final approval. The first half is expected to open to passengers in 2019, and full completion of the airport is slated for approximately 18 months later.

LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP) — a public private partnership that the Port Authority selected this past May in a competitive RFP — will manage the design and construction for the first half. The consortium will then be in charge of operating, financing, and maintaining the airport as part of a 35-year lease. Delta Air Lines is expected to redevelop the airport terminals for the second half of the redesign.

Further design details below, via Gov. Cuomo's office:

"LaGuardia’s current terminal layout, comprised of multiple, fragmented terminals will be replaced by one main, architecturally unified terminal. This will be accomplished by demolishing the existing Terminal B building, which is operated by the Port Authority, and replacing it with a larger structure, located closer to the Grand Central Parkway, which will include new terminal space and a new Central Arrivals and Departures Hall, and will link to Delta’s Terminals C and D. This represents the western half of the new structurally unified terminal."

"The eastern half of the new unified terminal will be constructed on a parallel track by Delta Air Lines redeveloping its existing Terminals closer to the Grand Central Parkway and connecting them to the new Central Arrivals and Departures Hall. Delta Air Lines will move forward with the Panel’s recommendations in parallel with the construction schedule for the new space and Central Hall."

Check out a video of the design presentation below.