Atlanta Area May Lose Dobbins ARB (Alpharetta, Dunwoody: how much, construction, university)

[AcidSnake]

Given Beijing's notorious reputation as being one of the 20 cities with the most toxic air quality in the world, any boon that comes from having the title of "Most Busiest Airport" would be short-lived.

Oh yeah, and 16 of the world's most most air-polluted cities are in China. Imagine that...

The Most Polluted Places On Earth - CBS News

Any Atlanta political official who actually sees losing this not so important in the grand scheme of things "world's busiest airport" status to China needs to get they unschooled/unwordly/backwoods-self slapped in the face.

And voted out of office.

But given the depressingly low bar that a person has to climb to get elected to office in Georgia, in all likelihood they will stay in.

Originally Posted by erick295

You won't have to worry about that since Beijing is on its way to taking that title anyway .

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Not really. Can you imagine the howls from Dobbins' neighbors if someone wanted to fly in 737s, A320s, etc? Not to mention the lack of transit access, while simultaneously being in the middle of Atlanta's worst traffic.
The better use for it is a massive mixed-use development and green space. Ideally, the development would have commuter rail access to Atlanta given the rail line is right there. I could also see it being made into a fly-in community, possibly as part of a mixed-use development, the occasional Cessna has less neighborly impact than the occasional C-130.

They'll just have to deal with it. The fact is that our current airport has run out of room to expand. And Cobb leaders would die to get any form of economic growth in their county. (And there might be less planes flying over me)

[JoeP]

"they'll just have to deal with it" isn't planning. The area around Dobbins can't handle a commercial airport.

Atlanta does need another airport and so much more, but it's amazing how little vision and will the region and state have.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Not really. Can you imagine the howls from Dobbins' neighbors if someone wanted to fly in 737s, A320s, etc? Not to mention the lack of transit access, while simultaneously being in the middle of Atlanta's worst traffic.

Well, first, as long as Lockheed is there, there will need to be some type of secure airfield.

Second, as someone who lives close enough to Dobbins to get F-22, F-18, and C-130 traffic over my home, I wouldn't have a problem with some commercial flights. I lived near other busy airports and am a pilot, so it would not be an issue, at least for me.

Third, if it was an overflow airport for folks on the north side of town, then most people would be coming from Cobb, Paulding, Douglas, Cherokee counties and don't need, care, want, or have any use for transit to get there. Not to mention that Cobb Pkwy, South Cobb Drive, Atlanta Road (the main entry points) are not even close to being anywhere near to "Atlanta's worst traffic." I sometimes wonder if people think about what they're saying.

There is CCT service up Cobb Pkwy, and I'm sure (just as with the Braves) that if Dobbins was turned into a commercial airport and there was a need to connect it with MARTA or one of the two CCT hubs that are each a couple of miles away, they'll do it.

Why do people on this forum have this knee jerk reaction to anything where you first judge it by what "transit" is there, and next you always assume that no one is ever thinking about what changes need to be made if the project becomes a reality. It gets a little silly after a while.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Why do people on this forum have this knee jerk reaction to anything where you first judge it by what "transit" is there, and next you always assume that no one is ever thinking about what changes need to be made if the project becomes a reality.

Agreed. You certainly don't need rail transit to an airport, although bus lines can be handy.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by JoeP

"they'll just have to deal with it" isn't planning. The area around Dobbins can't handle a commercial airport.

Atlanta does need another airport and so much more, but it's amazing how little vision and will the region and state have.

The area around Hartsfield can't handle the busiest airport. Cobb citizens wouldn't have planes flying over them every five minutes.

I agree about the vision part. Kasim at least tried.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by demonta4

The area around Hartsfield can't handle the busiest airport. Cobb citizens wouldn't have planes flying over them every five minutes.

Having an airport in Cobb (or anywhere else) doesn't mean that you'll have "planes flying over...every five minutes" and in fact might not increase traffic much at all. There would be noise abatement instituted by the FAA and a limit on the hours that flights can take off and land. In fact, given the "class B" airspace restrictions for ATL, and the approaches to the airspace, there would be some inherent limits on how many flights could use Dobbins. The military stays at a pretty low altitude, which would not be the case for commercial flights.

You are not going to get the kinds of international and large capacity flights to somewhere like Dobbins. What you would probably get is some low cost carriers, regional flights, and some high capacity routes. Think of it similar to what is done at White Plains in NY, or Long Beach in CA near LA.

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Having an airport in Cobb (or anywhere else) doesn't mean that you'll have "planes flying over...every five minutes" and in fact might not increase traffic much at all. The would be noise abatement instituted by the FAA and a limit on the hours that flights can take off and land. In fact, given the "class B" airspace restrictions for ATL, and the approaches to the airspace, there would be some inherent limits on how many flights could use Dobbins. The military stays at a pretty low altitude, which would not be the case for commercial flights.

You are not going to get the kinds of international and large capacity flights to somewhere like Dobbins. What you would probably get is some low cost carriers, regional flights, and some high capacity routes. Think of it similar to what is done at White Plains in NY, or Long Beach in CA near LA.

I was saying that they wouldn't get flights every five minutes. It would have less flights because it wouldn't be the only airport. Hartsfield could have the international flights and Dobbins could have domestic flights.
And planes do fly over my house at least every ten minutes. Sometimes they are so low I can make out which company it is. I don't mind it but my neighbors do.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by demonta4

I was saying that they wouldn't get flights every five minutes. It would have less flights because it wouldn't be the only airport. Hartsfield could have the international flights and Dobbins could have domestic flights.
And planes do fly over my house at least every ten minutes. Sometimes they are so low I can make out which company it is. I don't mind it but my neighbors do.

You are making some very incorrect assumptions, and you did say every 5 min, so I was just quoting. There is no way possible or feasible that you could spilt the air traffic between Dobbins and Hartsfield the way you indicate between domestic and international.

What you might do, as I mentioned, is a situation like White Plains or Long Beach where you offload some small regional routes and some overflow from high capacity routes, which might amount to 5-10% of the current load at ATL.

ATL has all of the airline infrastructure for both passenger and freight, and all of the customs and law enforcement infrastructure, and all of the transportation infrastructure. Best case would probably be that you take some of the routes that can support passengers from the north side of town and shift them to Dobbins.

[neil0311]

One other important consideration to keep in mind....most of the passengers who land at ATL are transferring to other flights to their final destination. Dobbins would have to support those who are coming to Atlanta as their final destination which is a much different set of passengers.