LTNman
Can't say I agree with that point. If the road had gone under the terminal it would have come out on the old approach road. Then what as that road only had a link to local roads that were not suitable for heavy traffic. Only now are there plans to put in a dual carriageway that will cross the old approach road.
Yes but if they had have kept the through road - the one way back down to the 505 would have been sorted earlier. You detail the multiple changes very well and, right from 1999, the drop/pick area did not work.
boeing eng
Paxboy....I have argued in the past that closing the old approach road was an extremely short-sighted move. At the very least it would have given the airport more options than the current "fait accompli"!
I appreciate that, when the terminal was planned, the current level of mppa could not really have been expected - but if they had retained the through road - they would have had options.
Such as: the entrance road splits to send cars for drop and pick into an underground area - under what is now the drop/pick - and then flow on out and back to the 505. Access would then have been directly into the terminal by escalator and lift, an all weather solution. Keep traffic wardens on hand with a big stick!
Coaches could have branched up to park alongside the terminal as they do now.
BUT they threw all the options away and, once they built the new multi-story, they sealed the fate of an underground drop/pick.
NOW we have to wait for the train. As I have said above, classic Short Term commercial thinking, of the kind that we see in the UK every day.