Design a Better Airport

BostonUrbEx

BostonUrbEx

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
4,340
Reaction score
127
http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...128,-70.961037&spn=0.075264,0.181789&t=h&z=13


Yep.

Alternatively, remove the southern most east-west runway and make an additional NE-SW runway.


As is in the map: I-90 rerouted east of I-93 for metro-west, Boston, and North Shore. New connection for south shore via Moon Island with direct interchange at Neponset. This connection also shares a bridge from Moon Island to the Airport's island with a heavy rail urban ring which runs up Mass Ave via JFK/UMass. The Ted Williams tunnel would be repurposed or abandoned (probably going to fall to shit in a couple decades anyways).

Airport would be scaled down to serve freight during peak air passenger hours and would possibly also have it's AFB status reinstated, which could take over Hanscom's remaining air force operations. The airport property along the inner harbor would be turned into a large container intermodal facility for rail which can move out on the Worcester, Framingham, Lowell, or Newburyport lines. With a reverse move freight could move out on the Haverhill, however, this is useless as the Lowell has better capacity and anything go up the Haverhill line would be capable of going via the Wildcat Branch. Freight could go down any south side line without reversing (except the NEC between Back Bay and Readville (no freight stops anyways) and the Needham (no freight stops I know of)) should the loop at Beacon Yard be reconfigured a bit.

Remaining space up for developement. Height restrictions in East Boston relieved between Brooks St and the Harbor, with major increases in Downtown, Back Bay, South End, and surrounding area. Fort Point will also be capable of hosting some towers on either side.

Winthrop and Eastie residents will literally rejoice with parades, fireworks, and dancing in the streets. All others shall breath a sigh of relief due to rather large water buffers and indirect runway alignment (Hull completely avoids any approaches and Quincy Bay protects Quincy very well).

George's Island was specifically preserved in it's entirety. I'm not sure I've been there (possibly conflicting memories of Castle Island) but it appears to be pretty badass, so it stays for sure.


The End.
 
PS: MassPort will be disolved and all MassPort officials, along with NIMBY's and island preservationists, will be publicly executed in the Common by gallows, guillotines, and firing squads.
 
I'd guess that this proposal makes a hash out of existing shipping lanes but I don't know that for sure.
 
I like it. I would reword the interchange with I-93 to destroy less of Port Norfolk and I would extend the Silver Line via the I-90 Spur (I-190 perhaps?).

I know it is only a thought experiment but I wonder what the wind patterns have to say about the runway layouts? Also, I'm sure Qunicy residents would be none too pleased at this.

@Ron: It doesn't look like shipping lanes would be affected too much as the new airport could be designed around them or in a way that improves them (i.e. dredging the lanes to fill in the airport.)
 
I think running major highways through Squantum in Quincy and Castle Island in Southie is a non-starter. It reminds me a bit of the 'Boston Bypass' proposal that some North Ender presented as an alternative to the Big Dig.
 
Ron Newman said:
I think running major highways through Squantum in Quincy and Castle Island in Southie is a non-starter. It reminds me a bit of the 'Boston Bypass' proposal that some North Ender presented as an alternative to the Big Dig.
Click to expand...

I suppose my highways need a bit of an explanation. The entire I-90 shown on the map would be a tunnel. The road from Neponset would be a tunnel until it surfaces on the eastern shore of Squantum and then it's just bridges/surface. The Urban Ring is tunnel all the way until it meets up with the road from Neponset.
 
You'd create an alternative to Logan and then turn it over to freight and the air force? Think of all that waterfront property going to waste!

Also, closing up the harbor this way would create the perfect opportunity to build the Boston Flood Barrier, maybe with a through traffic bypass for I-93 built on top via Winthrop, Airport Island, and Hull, allowing the Big Dig tunnels to be abandoned for all kinds of good purposes.
 
You'll need to add a NW/SE runway, preferably 2 of them, for winter days when the wind is strong out of the northwest, especially after nor'easters. Also, if you can figure out a way to have the runways not intersect each other, that would be great. Pilots hate intersecting runway ops, although the controllers at Logan are very good when they need to have ops on intersecting runways.
Also, you might want to have 93 N start it's route to the airport a little further to the south--no way will Norfolk Point residents let their neighborhood be cut in half by a highway, but then you'll have to go under the very popular Pope John Paul park, the Neponset car and train bridges, and through a lot of tidal wetlands.
 
I completely realigned the runways so there are 2 NW/SE, 2 NE/SW, 2 E/W. I previously was trying to avoid runway crisscrossing and tried to limit it. This time, I was more successful, with the most being 2 crossings for just one of the runways. Also, the terminals would all now be right in the middle, in a ring around the ramps/parking, etc in the middle. This means better, more equal access too all runways. There could also be a ferry terminal in the middle of the southern sea wall.
 
I always wondered why the parking garages were never put underground given land constraints at logan.

How about an express shuttle bus to TF Green
 
Why don't we build a new airport off of Deer Island, like I suggested many times ago. I remember reading Boston Visions competition and there was a proposal named Boston's Safety Belt, that called for using existing islands and new artificial islands to serve as a barrier to protect the harbor and shoreline from rising waters or a hurricane. A highway was proposed to run along its path, connecting the mainland and serving as an inner belt. Perhaps this idea could be resurrected and modified to include a new airport in the location i mentioned, with a connection to the new the highway and a connection to existing subway lines and downtown boston. Of course this is all fantasy.
 
czsz said:
You'd create an alternative to Logan and then turn it over to freight and the air force? Think of all that waterfront property going to waste!

Also, closing up the harbor this way would create the perfect opportunity to build the Boston Flood Barrier, maybe with a through traffic bypass for I-93 built on top via Winthrop, Airport Island, and Hull, allowing the Big Dig tunnels to be abandoned for all kinds of good purposes.
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing too!
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Alternatively, remove the southern most east-west runway and make an additional NE-SW runway....

As is in the map: I-90 rerouted east of I-93 for metro-west, Boston, and North Shore. New connection for south shore via Moon Island with direct interchange at Neponset. This connection also shares a bridge from Moon Island to the Airport's island with a heavy rail urban ring which runs up Mass Ave via JFK/UMass. The Ted Williams tunnel would be repurposed or abandoned (probably going to fall to shit in a couple decades anyways)....

Airport would be scaled down to serve freight during peak air passenger hours and would possibly also have it's AFB status reinstated, which could take over Hanscom's remaining air force operations. The airport property along the inner harbor would be turned into a large container intermodal facility for rail which can move out on the Worcester, Framingham, Lowell, or Newburyport lines....

Remaining space up for developement. Height restrictions in East Boston relieved between Brooks St and the Harbor, with major increases in Downtown, Back Bay, South End, and surrounding area. Fort Point will also be capable of hosting some towers on either side.

George's Island was specifically preserved in it's entirety. I'm not sure I've been there (possibly conflicting memories of Castle Island) but it appears to be pretty badass, so it stays for sure.....


The End.
Click to expand...

Can we just rename this thread -- "What would happen if the inmates were given the keys to the Asylum?"

Let's put it this way -- there's a greater probability of the MFA erecting a devotional temple to Juno for the renaissance of the Greco-Roman Deities
 
BostonUrbEx said:
China did it. Or Japan. Ahh, whatever, I'll just refer to them as Asia. Asia did it. So can we.
Click to expand...

Japan did it. I think it was Osaka's airport. I remember reading an article on that airport in ENR. The airport has sunk something like 30 feet since it was built. They've needed to keep retrofitting it and re-engineering it. There was a sidebar in the article comparing megaprojects and Osaka's was the most expensive on the list (cost something like 50% more than the Big Dig even though it was built 10 years earlier).
So yes, we can. But no, we probably shouldn't.
 
I think Hong Kong did this, too. But as to Lord Stanley's question, why not? The current airport is a man made peninsula jutting out into the harbor. How is that different from a man made island further out in the harbor?
 
Wouldn't it just be easier to reserve Hanscom for development as a supplement to Logan in the very long term future? Boston could be a two-airport city a la Dulles/Reagan in DC, Heathrow/Gatwick in London, CDG/Orly in Paris, etc.

Granted, Logan has a ways to go before it reaches maximum capacity. What with American and US Airways starting a merger dance, there's basically an entire half of Terminal B that could well be available in the near term. Couple that with ATC improvements and additional terminal expansion possibilities, Logan has room to grow.
 
Have Hanscom be our LaGuardia? Oh how Lincoln and Concord would scream...
 
Expanding TF Green or Manchester and running some sort of transportation between them would be a simpler solution than expanding Hanscom (not to mention building an entirely new airport in the middle of the harbor). The distances between either are closer (~1 hr) than between Heathrow/Gatwick (~2hrs), so it's not an entirely unworkable solution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top