摘要: |
Air transportation plays a vital role in the Texas economy. Air passenger/cargo traffic is projected to continue to increase considerably at many of the state's large airports. Ground access to airports is an important function that must be provided for at the regional level as well as in the immediate vicinity of the facility itself. Congestion problems affecting airport access are in some instances reaching unacceptable proportions; there are also concerns regarding the negative impacts such congestion is having on air quality and other environmental considerations. Accordingly, these issues require concerted action to meet project needs. To address the above challenges and current gaps, this project takes a comprehensive look at the landside access issues associated with the major airports in the state. It seeks to improve on existing planning procedures and processes to meet the unique needs of airport traffic demand, for both people and goods. To be effective, planning for airport ground access must be multimodal and intermodal, consider operational, regulatory and capital-intensive infrastructure provision issues, consider multiple levels of scale/resolution, and recognize the unique dynamic aspects of air traffic demand, i.e., its temporal patterns. This report presents an overview and synthesis of the literature reviewed under the first task. The research team concludes that the motivation and the need for the ground access study is high and that existing approaches and documents are insufficient to meet the needs for strategic ground access planning of major airports in Texas. |