Hollman field: Turn it into an international airport? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: insurance, cost)

[ColdRedRain]

The MSP airport is situated in the west metro and is mainly built to service the West Metro. Anybody travelling towards the east metro would either have to take the 54, 21A or 16 buses towards STP for a very long and possibly dangerous bus ride.

Holman field is in a perfect location for an Int'l airport. It's in the downtown of a major city (Yes uptowners, A city of nearly 300 thousand is considered major) and is convenient for some big companies such as Traveller's insurance and 3M, as well as being closer for East Metro and western Wisconsin.

Other multipolar metro areas have multiple airports. Miami and Ft Lauderdale both have major airports, so do Tampa and Saint Pete, Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. DFW has a single airport and so does Seatac, but FW is starting to grow nearly as big as big D and is developing itself seperatley from Big D, so there may be a new int'l airport that could develop there within the next 10-20 years or so.

It may be a good idea to develop Holman field into a small Int'l airport with a few daily flights from other cities in the region such as Winnepeg, Thunder Bay, Duluth, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago and Des Moines as well as a few vacation flights from STP to Orlando and Tampa Bay. Funnelling into the airport instead of driving halfway across town to get to DT STP. It could be turned into a hub for discount airlines too, much like how Pinelles County serves as a discount airport hub for the Tampa Bay area.

[gearedtowardssalad]

MSP Int'l is actually closer to downtown Saint Paul than to downtown Minneapolis. I don't think this would happen anytime in the near future. Most of those cities with multiple airports are either major centers for business, popular tourist destinations, or both.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by ColdRedRain

The MSP airport is situated in the west metro and is mainly built to service the West Metro. Anybody travelling towards the east metro would either have to take the 54, 21A or 16 buses towards STP for a very long and possibly dangerous bus ride.

The airport is very close to being in the middle of the Twin Cities from an east-west perspective.

The Twin Cities aren't really multi-polar, anyway, since Minneapolis and St. Paul border each other and both reside at the core of the metro.

[golfgal]

I wouldn't consider the airport "west" metro by any means but it is also very easy to get to from Travelers, 3M, etc. It probably takes as much time on 494 as it would to navigate 94 to 52 to Plato anyway.

Then you have the issue of flooding every spring and you would have to clear the flight path of many buildings and the cliffs along the river. It wouldn't be cost effective to do that. Then, you would have to expand the highways leading to Hollman, again, not cost effective.

[Globe199]

The two airports are less than eight miles apart. There's also no security at the St Paul airport. It will never be anything more than it currently is, unfortunately.

[Kebinminn]

People come not just from the cities but outstate Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. One major airport in this area is plenty. I see no advantages to another.

[Globe199]

Before 9/11 they were talking about running a high-speed rail from MSP to Rochester to off-load some of the traffic (that was growing very quickly then).

[uptown_urbanist]

I agree with the others: MSP is fairly central. It's really not a big deal to get there from downtown St. Paul.

As far as the "dangerous bus ride" thing, I think that's vastly overstated. If someone is that worried or is traveling late at night they can take a cab or the super shuttle.

Maybe at some point another airport somewhere to handle some overflow (commuter flights, etc.) would make sense, but I don't think Hollman is the answer.

[Explorer John]

Originally Posted by ColdRedRain

Anybody travelling towards the east metro would either have to take the 54, 21A or 16 buses towards STP for a very long and possibly dangerous bus ride.

Dangerous how?

[Cruz Azul Guy]

I think it's a silly idea and can safely predict it'll never happen. We take the 21 bus all the time and have never had any safety concerns.