There has been talk recently of a phase 2 expansion of Chicago’s O’Hare airport and now there are calls for expanding both JFK and Newark airports in the New York City area.

No doubt that the latter two could certainly stand some better planning and a revision of runway strategy.  I would also be wholly unsurprised to find out that others will argue for a new airport serving the area.  Then they will point to White Plains as the next NYC airport again.

I’m all for airports getting revamped and better plans and runways.

But what I would like to see more of is rapid transportation to and from these airports.  A big part of the problem with using many of today’s airports is the inability to get to them in timely manner as well as the parking fees that resemble mob extortion.

Everyone knows the challenges in accessing most of the New York’s airports.  It’s much the same at many other airports around the country including my own home base in DFW.  I can drive 40 miles and pay a minimum of $13/day to park at DFW (anything somewhat close to the terminal is considerably more) and I don’t have much in the way of choice in doing that.

We have a rail system now and it’s actually a pleasant one.  You can get kind of close to DFW via the rail system but you still have to transit from a rail station to the airport via shuttle at the cost of at least 15 minutes more time and often more. 

Why I can’t ride a rail right to the DFW airport terminals and their new rail system is completely beyond me and a sorely neglected option.  It’s coming, they say but it’s about 10 years overdue in my opinion.

And these conditions aren’t much different at other major airports.  We need to do a better job of planning access to these airports in addition to building a new runway here and there.

Filed under: Airports by ajax