Relief airport for Hartsfield-Jackson (Atlanta, Macon: houses, transfer to, buying)
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In less than two weeks, Hartsfield-Jackson will be opening a brand-new terminal (woohoo!). It should give some gate space relief to domestic flights and make international arrivals easier. However, as future forecasts population in metro Atlanta to keep growing, perhaps someday even an airport as big as Hartsfield just won't be big enough. As a result, there may come a point where we need a second airport.
Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville has been mentioned as the place for expansion. However, residents are fiercely opposed to upgrading the airfield into a commercial airport. Where, then, would it go? It needs to be far enough out to serve as an alternative to Hartsfield and to keep land costs low, but it can't be so far out that it defeats the whole purpose of serving at least part of Metro Atlanta.
Two options I can think of are either Cobb County Airport/McCollum Field or Athens-Ben Epps Field. Athens may be a bit of a stretch, but there is definitely room for expansion there. ....even more reason for the brain train!
Location: ๏̯͡๏﴿ Gwinnett-That's a Civil Matter-County
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As much as I'd like to see one in L-ville, that's really not any more convenient to people on the west side of town.
If you take a look at MDW in chicago, a busy secondary airport, with FIVE runways, the entire parcel is only 1 section. (1 mile x 1 mile). Size wise, that's about the same as PDK airport although PDK has fewer runways.
There are homes right across the street from this urban airport, only about 150 feet away.
What would make the most amount of sense is to build the airport somewhere in or around the area known as Milton.Maybe due north of milton and due west of the lake. This location would not only serve atlanta but all of north ga communities. Keep in mind that the cities in north ga (excluding metro atlanta), if you tally them all up far exceeds the populations of some cities that have very good international airports.
So that's where I'd put the airport but the airport by itself is not going to work. There has to be a limited access northern arc that goes right to it.
Seeing as how that's never going to happen as the majority of the people in this state oppose infrastructure and planning, then I could settle for another airport in any other location, doesn't matter where. It could be right across the street from hartsfield. Just as long as it was a smaller, simpler, easier to park, less walking, less confusing airport. Preferably with no international flights.
Of course I'd love for it to be closer but being closer is only part of the problem. If it was just as bad as hartsfield and right down the street, it would still suck.
If you take a look at MDW in chicago, a busy secondary airport, with FIVE runways,
Just to clarify ------->>>>
Those runways aren't all parallel like ATL, and they are much shorter. They use only two of those runways at a time, depending on wind direction, and only one in each direction is for large commercial aircraft. Midway can handle planes along the lines of the ERJ, CRJ, 737 and A320.
One of those five runways is 3,800 feet; good for a cessna or beechcraft, but certainly not any commercial jet. You wouldn't even be able to operate a gulfstream or learjet on that runway.
Athens is a stretch indeed--the fact that it's on the other side of Athens pretty much counts it out. Mediocre road access too.
If Barrow County wanted to go big time, they could make Winder (WDR) the relief airport. I know it's out of the way, but there's a lot going for it.
For major portions of Gwinnett it would be closer than ATL. It's located a couple miles off 316, which will eventually become limited access (the TIA referendum would make it limited access up to the Gwinnett County line). So traffic isn't much of an issue. The Brain Train runs literally right next to the terminal, which would be a pretty slick transportation link for the airport someday. Gwinnett has actually been leading the metro among large counties in terms of wage and job growth lately, and we have all heard about the major economic development projects that have been announced for northeast Georgia lately.
In ~20 years, it's fairly likely Barrow County will be a developed suburban area all the way over to Athens, and having an airport right in the middle would be a huge asset to that part of the state.
The reason I thought of Athens was because it would be a closer option than places like Chattanooga or Macon (which have been mentioned in the past).
Winder could be an option, but there needs to be ample room for expansion. There is to an extent, but I bet the roads currently bordering it to the north and south will present somewhat of an expansion road block eventually.
Maybe we just need to find some flat land and start from scratch even closer in than that. Problem is...I don't know of any substantial flat land north of Atlanta!
Two options I can think of are either Cobb County Airport/McCollum Field or Athens-Ben Epps Field. Athens may be a bit of a stretch, but there is definitely room for expansion there.
I'm a pilot and I fly from RYY (Cobb/McCollum) and I can tell you the current runway is just barely adequate to land small airliners bigger than commuter jets (6300x100), even after the upgrade they did 2 years ago. Additionally there is no cross-wind capacity, and not sure where you would build a terminal. The flight path to the east is generally over commercial buildings, so the noise might not get too much opposition, although the houses to the west might not like it.
On top of that, the airspace and approach is very constricted with Dobbins just to the south, PDK to the southeast, and ATL approach traffic. The real question is whether there is a need for smaller capacity commuter traffic to serve the north side of Atlanta directly, without any means to transfer to flights at the hub.
I'd welcome the added convenience for myself since I live 10 min from RYY, but I'm not sure there is enough room to expand or that the usage would make it worthwhile. It would be interesting to see some real numbers.
The reason I thought of Athens was because it would be a closer option than places like Chattanooga or Macon (which have been mentioned in the past).
Winder could be an option, but there needs to be ample room for expansion. There is to an extent, but I bet the roads currently bordering it to the north and south will present somewhat of an expansion road block eventually.
Maybe we just need to find some flat land and start from scratch even closer in than that. Problem is...I don't know of any substantial flat land north of Atlanta!
I've thought a lot about Athens too, and it wouldn't be a bad idea (I would view it mainly as an airport to accommodate future growth more than anything). It's just really far away for most of metro Atlanta.
WDR does indeed have something of a land problem. And the community would not be thrilled about the aircraft noise. It would certainly require a lot of will among local politicians to make something like that happen, and a vision to make Barrow County an integral part of the metro area (which it is indeed well-positioned to become, given its location right between Atlanta and Athens).
Buying a brand new bunch of flat land somewhere in metro Atlanta will be really tough. I'm just not sure that much land exists anywhere on the northside, or anywhere between roughly Monroe and Dallas. Expansion to existing airports looks like the only option to me.
How about the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport in Chattanooga? The airport is located centrally to serve Northern Georgia, far Northern Atlanta suburbs, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, etc.
There has been talks about high-speed rail between Atlanta and Chattanooga.
How about the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport in Chattanooga? The airport is located centrally to serve Northern Georgia, far Northern Atlanta suburbs, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, etc.
For people who live well north of the Atlanta metro, I think Chattanooga is a potential option, but then it has been all along. The fact that Chattanooga has not made itself the alternative to Atlanta for north Georgia is probably a result of a lack of both supply and demand.
Personally, there is no way in hell I'm traveling 90 min out of my way to a second tier airport that is surrounded by high terrain (think weather related delays and fewer direct flights), when I have one ATL 30 to 45 min away with 5 runways and direct flights to anywhere in the world.
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