LUTON -8
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Growth slows but over 1.5 million passengers use Luton in June.
Rail identified as key to future of London Luton Airport | News | Breaking Travel News
Rail identified as key to future of London Luton Airport | News | Breaking Travel News
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Luton
Posts: 549
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Please spare a thought for those of us who, in an attempt to reduce the amount of traffic entering the CTA and the approach roads, have been using two wheeled transport (i.e. pedal cycle) to get into work. I have now had to admit defeat and abandoned this idea (after many, many years) as the current access in AND OUT of the CTA has become a nightmare. Joining a queue to get into the CTA is bad enough - having an even longer queue of impatient car/bus/delivery vehicle drivers jostling for position on their way to the pay barriers has proved the last straw. No, the narrow path provided for pedestrians through the tunnel is no option for a bicycle, even being wheeled, given the number of passengers also using it. Well done LLA management for such an appallingly ill-thought out scheme. It is just beyond belief.
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 792
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Road chaos
I have just had the delight of dropping people off in peak time.
Afterwards I went to the MSCP and just watched with interest what was happening moving from one side to watch the queue coming into the CTA and then the other side to watch the chaos at the exit barriers.
These are just a few observations , firstly it is apparent the airport needs to get large numbers of passengers not only in but OUT of the CTA quickly and efficiently.
Remember the first master plan from Albertis where the D.O.T stated that 15-16mppa would be using the airport by 2030 not by 2018. the sudden surge in passenger numbers over the last few years has been staggering and I think Luton is not alone( Birmingham is going the same way now according to friends that recently used it) with this.
Can anybody please explain the purpose of the link road from the coach parking across the dual carriageway that isn't being used.Is it for emergency access?
I know this would come at a cost but why oh why have they not put hatched boxes and traffic lights there to enable all the coaches to get out of the CTA.
These could be peak time only lights and sure as hell wouldn't slow the traffic down anymore than it is now. I watched nine coaches end to end blocking that exit route.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to send them all the way around needs their head examining.
What would also happen if there was an emergency during peak times for access to the terminal?
I can't see how the latest plans with the CTA layout and second MSCP if built will address these problems.
The airport is obviously hoping that once the station is built this will eleviate the problem and take the strain off the roads.If so I can see that they will have to let locals and airport workers use it (without having to buy a rail ticket) but as that is at least four years away the airport needs to be more reactive to the road woes.
I feel for you cj241101 it looks a bit dangerous trying to use a bicycle up there!!
As for the terminal, yeah at least a year behind schedule but at least we should be happy that money is being invested(if not entirely well).
I have just had the delight of dropping people off in peak time.
Afterwards I went to the MSCP and just watched with interest what was happening moving from one side to watch the queue coming into the CTA and then the other side to watch the chaos at the exit barriers.
These are just a few observations , firstly it is apparent the airport needs to get large numbers of passengers not only in but OUT of the CTA quickly and efficiently.
Remember the first master plan from Albertis where the D.O.T stated that 15-16mppa would be using the airport by 2030 not by 2018. the sudden surge in passenger numbers over the last few years has been staggering and I think Luton is not alone( Birmingham is going the same way now according to friends that recently used it) with this.
Can anybody please explain the purpose of the link road from the coach parking across the dual carriageway that isn't being used.Is it for emergency access?
I know this would come at a cost but why oh why have they not put hatched boxes and traffic lights there to enable all the coaches to get out of the CTA.
These could be peak time only lights and sure as hell wouldn't slow the traffic down anymore than it is now. I watched nine coaches end to end blocking that exit route.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to send them all the way around needs their head examining.
What would also happen if there was an emergency during peak times for access to the terminal?
I can't see how the latest plans with the CTA layout and second MSCP if built will address these problems.
The airport is obviously hoping that once the station is built this will eleviate the problem and take the strain off the roads.If so I can see that they will have to let locals and airport workers use it (without having to buy a rail ticket) but as that is at least four years away the airport needs to be more reactive to the road woes.
I feel for you cj241101 it looks a bit dangerous trying to use a bicycle up there!!
As for the terminal, yeah at least a year behind schedule but at least we should be happy that money is being invested(if not entirely well).
Paxing All Over The World
Falcon666, you are correct but, as this thread has said many times:
- The Brits (and capitalism overall) prefer short term, five years is usual.
- The airline world is all about long term, 20 years is usual.
- [and my personal hobby horse] There used to be a road running through the central area from one side to the next. When the new terminal was built in the late 1990s, if they had taken that road and put it in a cut-and-cover tunnel, they would have a one way system and 90% of these traffic problems would not exist. Then, all the remdial changes and rebuilds would not have needed to happen and all that cost saved.
BUT - Note items 1. and 2.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Can anybody please explain the purpose of the link road from the coach parking across the dual carriageway that isn't being used.Is it for emergency access?
So why no lights? Just a guess but it is down to money and the fact that it is due to be dug up from next April for the cut and cover tunnel to the station. When it is put back I would think it will then get a set of lights. It is also the reason why the short term car park didn't get its makeover completed as that will be the location of the replacement drop off zone.
[and my personal hobby horse] There used to be a road running through the central area from one side to the next. When the new terminal was built in the late 1990s, if they had taken that road and put it in a cut-and-cover tunnel, they would have a one way system and 90% of these traffic problems would not exist.
Last edited by LTNman; 12th Jul 2017 at 12:44.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Please spare a thought for those of us who, in an attempt to reduce the amount of traffic entering the CTA and the approach roads, have been using two wheeled transport (i.e. pedal cycle) to get into work. I have now had to admit defeat and abandoned this idea (after many, many years) as the current access in AND OUT of the CTA has become a nightmare. Joining a queue to get into the CTA is bad enough - having an even longer queue of impatient car/bus/delivery vehicle drivers jostling for position on their way to the pay barriers has proved the last straw. No, the narrow path provided for pedestrians through the tunnel is no option for a bicycle, even being wheeled, given the number of passengers also using it. Well done LLA management for such an appallingly ill-thought out scheme. It is just beyond belief.
This group of LLA staff are heading for Amsterdam on a charity run. 
LLA
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"! 
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Have you been on that road in the morning and evening rush hours? In the mornings the traffic queues from the TUI building by ASDA and in the evening it queues the other way through the airport as the locals including me use it as a short cut. If there was a tunnel past the terminal all those commuters would be driving under terminal and through the CTA.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Report in The Times this morning that the DART link from Parkway to the airport will cost £95,238 per metre to build. (£200 million / 2.1Km) I never thought about it that way.
LTNman.... I've lived in Wigmore for 27 years so am fully aware of the traffic conditions
......Having another entrance/exit to the terminal area (even if it was limited to staff, deliveries, car park shuttles & coaches etc) is a far more preferable situation to the current debacle....I certainly wasn't implying that it would be a through road for local traffic!
......Having another entrance/exit to the terminal area (even if it was limited to staff, deliveries, car park shuttles & coaches etc) is a far more preferable situation to the current debacle....I certainly wasn't implying that it would be a through road for local traffic!
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Luton
Posts: 549
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Luton
Posts: 549
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not necessarily planned to use LTN as yet but El Al's first 787 made its maiden flight yesterday. 4X-EDA when it gets delivered.
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untit...iner/4454193/L
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untit...iner/4454193/L
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: A place you do not know
Posts: 513
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
El Al dreamliners will use LTN but what I have read and have been told is that it will be the 787-8 when that it delivered to replace the 767. The 789 to replacing the 747 and some of the 777 fleet.
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: London Whipsnade Wildlife Park
Posts: 5,039
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The Tinminal was designed for 5mppa. I don't think many at the time of its conception would have ever envisaged growth to 15mppa, so rapidly, or even 23 million! One way in and the same way out was always the Achilles Heel.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: In the sticks
Posts: 9,862
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Many major airports have one way in and one way out. Heathrow terminals 1 to 3 has only one public access route. Luton's issue is that over the years they have been completely incapable of designing a drop off zone that does not bring the airport to a standstill.
In 1999 when the new terminal opened the drop off was next to the terminal. Cars would park up for long periods so no one else could get to the kerbs as there was no enforcement of the no waiting restrictions so the result was chaos.
The drop off zone then moved further out and inbound traffic had to cross the path of the outbound traffic. The result was more chaos.
Traffic lights were then put in which only lasted a few weeks as they made the situation worse.
A one way system was introduced but with pay barriers at the end of each lane the drop off zones would be full of cars trying to leave.
An additional drop off zone was added which sat at a right angle to the main one. While the main drop off zone would be at a standstill the overflow would remain empty as no one knew it was there.
We now have the present arrangement where even before it was built the writing was on the wall with its single lane and 4 pedestrian crossings although to be fair it is only one crossing that causes the problems but those problems cause one mile tailbacks. All of the above zones had traffic queuing through the tunnel but as the passenger numbers have grown so have the queue lengths as each drop off zone could not cope with the traffic volumes.
Looking at the new drop off design which should open in March next year the airport will go back to four entry lanes. They in turn will feed back into a single lane on the return leg where more drop off parking will be offered. The route will turn 180 degrees for the second time to new relocated exit barriers.
The exit barriers are not that far from the drop off zone so any tailbacks will clog the drop off zone. In the photo the road at the top is the service road and the road at the bottom is from the tunnel. Looking at its design I can see problems with this design as well. At the moment the airport has 5 exit barriers. This is now being changed to 6 and this design will have 7. The top barrier is actually the entry barrier for the multistory.
The builders compound for the rail link is shown in the top right hand corner.
In 1999 when the new terminal opened the drop off was next to the terminal. Cars would park up for long periods so no one else could get to the kerbs as there was no enforcement of the no waiting restrictions so the result was chaos.
The drop off zone then moved further out and inbound traffic had to cross the path of the outbound traffic. The result was more chaos.
Traffic lights were then put in which only lasted a few weeks as they made the situation worse.
A one way system was introduced but with pay barriers at the end of each lane the drop off zones would be full of cars trying to leave.
An additional drop off zone was added which sat at a right angle to the main one. While the main drop off zone would be at a standstill the overflow would remain empty as no one knew it was there.
We now have the present arrangement where even before it was built the writing was on the wall with its single lane and 4 pedestrian crossings although to be fair it is only one crossing that causes the problems but those problems cause one mile tailbacks. All of the above zones had traffic queuing through the tunnel but as the passenger numbers have grown so have the queue lengths as each drop off zone could not cope with the traffic volumes.
Looking at the new drop off design which should open in March next year the airport will go back to four entry lanes. They in turn will feed back into a single lane on the return leg where more drop off parking will be offered. The route will turn 180 degrees for the second time to new relocated exit barriers.
The exit barriers are not that far from the drop off zone so any tailbacks will clog the drop off zone. In the photo the road at the top is the service road and the road at the bottom is from the tunnel. Looking at its design I can see problems with this design as well. At the moment the airport has 5 exit barriers. This is now being changed to 6 and this design will have 7. The top barrier is actually the entry barrier for the multistory.
The builders compound for the rail link is shown in the top right hand corner.
Last edited by LTNman; 13th Jul 2017 at 06:46.