Manage Flight Demand or Build Airport Capacity?

Megan S. Ryerson and Amber Woodburn

Airports can manage air traffic congestion in two ways: 1) add infrastructure or 2) manage flight demand. The environmental and economic implications of these options, however, often conflict. New runways have significant financial and environmental costs, but they can also stimulate economic development and increase a city’s appeal to businesses. Managing demand saves construction costs and encourages fuel efficiency but may limit opportunities for regional growth. Our research finds that airports in the US underestimate or ignore these tradeoffs and, as a result, frequently fail to consider managing demand as an alternative to building new runways.

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Life-Cycle Environmental Assessment of California High Speed Rail

Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath

California is planning to spend $40 billion to build a high speed rail system from San Diego to Sacramento. Advocates argue that high speed rail will save money and improve the environment, while critics claim it will waste money and harm the environment. What accounts for these diametrically opposed views about a technology that has been operating in other countries for decades? And what can transportation analysts offer to inform the debate?

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2018-02-14T21:40:54+00:00Categories: ACCESS 37, Fall 2010|Tags: , , |

Airport Congestion Management: Prices or Quantities?

Jan Brueckner

Air travel delays have hit new highs in the US since 2000, although passenger traffic and airport congestion have temporarily fallen during the current recession. Similar delays continue to plague European airlines. Although weather is a major source of delays, US Department of Transportation data show that the volume of traffic is also a major cause. What can be done about this airport congestion and the resulting delays?

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Multimodal Transportation in California: Connecting Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Adib Kanafani

The continued population growth expected for California will bring increasing demand for mobility and pressure to expand the capacity of the transportation system, including intercity transportation. If historic trends are any indication, we know that no single mode—rail, air, or highway—by itself can meet this increasing demand. Making the best use of each mode and creating interconnections among them are key to coping with rising demand for transportation.

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2018-02-07T23:32:04+00:00Categories: ACCESS 33, Fall 2008|Tags: , |