LaGuardia Airport traffic grinds to ‘near standstill’

Traffic near LaGuardia Airport ground to a halt Monday evening on one of the airport’s busiest days — with many travelers opting to walk into and out of the transit hub as it dealt with the fallout from the weekend’s weather-induced flight cancellations and another thunderstorm on the horizon.

“It’s a mess and to have to walk with your luggage and your baby in this heat — it’s crazy,” Deborah Ridenhour, 54, of Baldwin, told The Post as she walked with her two daughters and 8-month-old grandson to a cab parked outside the airport.

“I should’ve worn a bathing suit,” she added.

The Port Authority reported on Twitter that the airport’s roads were at a “near standstill.”

As of Monday evening, Grand Central Parkway was backed up in both directions, while there were also jams on Ditmars Boulevard, which runs along the airports southern edge.

For-hire vehicle drivers said the congestion was making it nearly impossible to pick up fares.

“I’ve been sitting in this traffic for 45 minutes and only moved three blocks,” 21-year-old Uber driver Daman Kaura told the Post. “I’m not getting paid while I’m waiting. I keep telling my passenger to cancel and take a yellow cab but she doesn’t want to.”

Officials are recommending travelers opt to take a bus to get to the transit hub.

Port Authority officials attributed Monday’s congestion to ongoing construction at the airport, as well as delays and cancellations Sunday due to wild weather, which accounted for 40 percent of the total flights scheduled out of the airport.

Almost 100 flights were canceled on Sunday, according to FlightAware. As of 5:11 p.m. on Monday, 144 flights out of the airport had been delayed and another 25 canceled. Thunderstorms were set to hit the city around 7 p.m. Monday, according to AccuWeather.

Rosann Bryant, 51, who was headed to Denver after dropping her daughter off at Columbia University, compared the rush to board the shuttle bus between Terminal D and Terminal B to a “stampede.”

“There was so much traffic people were asking to get off,” Bryant told the Post.

“I already missed my flight,” she said. “I’m just thanking God my daughter isn’t with me because she’s on crutches.”

The airport has been crippled by traffic all summer thanks to construction pushing the limits of its capacity.

“There has to be some accountability,” said Andrew Kyrejko, 32, of Manhattan, who lost track of his partner while trying to get on one of the airport’s shuttles.

“It’s a total repeat of what happened two weeks ago.”