Call me crazy, but I always felt Project Runway was a show that should’ve been about airports. So much for that plan. Beginning today, a hat trick of new runways opens up at three major airports across the US. Airport expansion is quite rare here in the US and seeing three huge new runways opening simultaneously is unheard of. Airports are more likely to be closed in the United States rather than opened.
My home airport, Washington-Dulles got its first new runway since it opened in 1962. Runway 1L /19R is 9,400 feet long and appears to be accessible only by Taxiway Tango currently. For this runway to be truly effective, this runway will need all its taxiways connected so it doesn’t snarl traffic on 12/30.
At Seattle-Tacoma, Ruwnay 16R/34L is officially operational after 15 years of debate and Chicago-O’Hare gets 9L/27R at the north end of the massive airport. Interestingly, it turns out that airlines are less than enthusiastic about the next phase of O’Hare expansion.
If you want more airport news, I highly recommend Terminal Q authored by my colleague, the always insightful Megan Kuhn. Terminal Q just migrated from its original home over at Blogger to Flightglobal.com, so stop by and wish her a warm welcome!
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.