Quote:
Originally Posted by the Genral
Such as Newark where I fly to frequently. The trams are easy to get to from the terminal and stop at each of the rental car locations. The hardest part is getting the rental to and from the airport. Its funny how a tram system can make cruddy old Newark feel a bit more modern.
|
I feel like the rental car center in San Fransisco was 10 miles away from the actual airport. It was a really long tram ride to the terminal.
A tram at the Austin airport makes a lot more sense if they build a new terminal instead of expanding the main terminal. The tough thing is you would really want trams from the entrances of the airports to the rental car facility and another tram that goes from one terminal to another for people that are already through security. A lot of airports don't build both lines at the same time. Bush airport went 30 years without a tram within the security checkpoints and I believe LAX just built theres. I wonder if the two routes could share the same physical rail but go to different stops? Maybe that is against regulations since they would rely on automation to make sure trams from outside the terminal take people to a stop within the airport security checkpoints.
THEN AGAIN! The plan to build another terminal requires a tunnel be built under the taxiways for cars so maybe they can make it wide enough to fit a tram line. It doesn't have to be a full subway system like Bush airport but it could just go underground to cross the terminal grounds and then come back up.
The tram line would start at the CONRAC rental car/garage. It would head toward the new garage/staff administration office, the west end of the main terminal, head underground along with the road between the terminal and west taxiway, new central terminal, new central terminal garage and then back underground to CONRAC.
The terminal stops don't need to be built into the buildings themselves. They typically put the rail stops next to the terminal and build glass walls around them with escalators. I guess they could build it into a new central terminal since it would be built from scratch.
It would be nice to have an elevated straight rail within the security checkpoint that would just be a straight shot from the main terminal to a new central terminal. I'm just not sure how many supports it would have to put down through the center of the taxiways and you can't have planes that close to giant concrete columns. If they could figure it out then they could close a few gates at the very center of the main terminal and run the train out from there to a new terminal. You could live without those gates if you are building an entire new terminal.
It's fun to think about but a train system like that would easily cost a billion dollars. I'm just a huge proponent of building a new terminal and not further expanding the main terminal. It would probably be a lot cheaper considering the logistical complications of bulldozing the short term garage and building between the big garages and the main terminal. It would save a lot of money because it could be built a lot quicker and it would be much simpler. BUT it would cost more overtime to run two terminals then to just expand the main terminal. Yea, you would need to build a garage for the new terminal but you would also build a new garage if you are expanding the main terminal by such a huge amount. You would also have to demolish the existing roadways next to the main terminal and re-build them next to the two new garages. That wouldn't cost more than building two underground tunnels and roadways at a new terminal but it's not a ridiculously huge difference. Of course, the new terminal also necessitates the previously mentioned two tram lines and two underground tunnels for the roadways.
The really great thing about a massive expansion (no matter what kind) is it will really push for a mass transit line from the airport. You don't need a train from the inside of a city to an airport because of the passengers. It's the added airport employees that clog roadways and increase the parking burden at the airports. There is currently a plan for a hard rail route that shares the red line track in downtown but keeps east instead of cutting north and then cuts through what I assume is private property to the airport. It would intersect with the Red Line, a the future green line which would also start at the downtown station, pass 183 and head north past what will be the next big wave of development and then cut east to Manor and Eldgin. There is also a plan (but not being researched) for a line that would run with the green line but it would keep going north to Round Rock. I think investing in commuter rail instead of shorter run light rail is a better bet. It's cheaper and can help with mass congestion by giving access to people of multiple regions and cutting through multiple parts of the city. Light rail is just too damn expensive and the city transportation network isn't good enough for light rail to be as successful as you would want it to be.
...sorry. wife is working late.