The Friendly Roads — New Access to Terminal Just Part of Airport Changes
By Jane Roberts robertsj@commercialappealcom
If you’re heading to the airport later this month, getting there at least will be easier, as will waiting if the flight you’re meeting is late .
Two lanes of the new five-lane inbound road will open to the public Aug. 13, meaning you will have a straight shot to the terminal and a better view of what’s to come in the $20.7 million project to improve accessibility to Memphis International Airport and pave the way for the new air traffic control tower the Federal Aviation Administration will start building early next year.
And if you have to wait on a delayed flight, take heart: You will no longer have to circle the property or pay to park.
“This is our new cell phone lot,” says Joe Polk, the airport’s manager of construction, as he drives a tour around piles of dirt and construction crews plowing toward completion in the afternoon heat. “We built it as a convenience to our customers.”
The 26-car lot, where you can wait for a cell phone call from passengers you are meeting, opened Monday, part of a major effort to improve the traffic flow and environmental friendliness of the airport, until now nearly treeless by design.
Trees attract birds, which are not at all conducive to airport operations. (That’s why all those Bradford pears had to go.)
As part of the budget, the airport is in the midst of planting $400,000 worth of perennials (including 10,000 multicolored daylilies) and trees, all approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “nonbird attractants,” part of the airport’s commitment to beautification as the heart of the city’s emerging aerotropolis.
If you don’t know that term, understand this: Key strategists around the world have identified several cities that, based on their global reach, are poised to become the centers of international commerce this century.
Memphis is one. Among the early challenges is assessing the power of the Brooks Road corridor, the link between the airport and the surrounding layers of business.
“The project certainly ties in with the concept of beautifying the airport and the surrounding areas,” said Larry Cox, president and CEO of the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority.
“It’s an attractive way to introduce our guests and visitors to Memphis and the Mid-South area.”
If first impressions are lasting ones , Cox, the Memphis Regional Chamber , Brooks Road Development Group and all the other players in the aerotropolis project expect the investment in the airport entrance will entice people to come back and perhaps invest in the city.
By mid-August, traffic entering the airport from Plough and Winchester will approach the terminal on the west side of the parking lot, with no sharp turns.
It will travel on an overpass to accommodate traffic from west parking lots and the airport Radisson, which until now entered the thoroughfare at the stoplight.
“We had to get the roadway out of the way for the new air traffic control tower,” Polk said, “and also make room for the future new parking garage, which is in the design phase now.”
The new inbound road will be finished by the end of the year, freeing up space for construction of the FAA tower, which at 325 feet will dwarf the existing 200-foot tower, built 30 years ago when the airport was much smaller.
“We need a new tower because the controllers can’t see the whole airfield. All they can see is a sideways view,” Polk said. “At night, the south end of the airfield looks like a sea of lights.”
New developments on the south end of the airport include the Tennessee Air National Guard base, the $250 million project on schedule to be finished late next summer.
The FAA will break ground in early 2008, finishing the tower in 2011.
“We’re in the bidding process now, so it’s not appropriate to publish costs,” said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman in Atlanta.
But it will be comparable in size and cost to the new FAA tower in Atlanta, which cost $45 million, she said.
“We need to enable controllers to have a complete line of sight of the airport to meet current and future air traffic capacity demands and planned development at the airport,” Bergen said.
The cab of the tower (the glass booth at the top) will be 850 square feet, more than twice the size of the current structure. It will include space for air traffic simulation and training.
The administrative offices and mechanical structures will also be rebuilt, enlarging from 19,000 square feet to 24,000 square feet.
The lifespan of an air traffic control tower is about 30 years. Memphis airport leaders wish they could see that far into the future.
The airport now is in the process of selecting consultants for its next master plan – a 10- to 15-year look into future that encompasses passenger and cargo growth, and industries that will need to be close to the airport.
“It’s a very difficult process,” Polk said, “because it literally looks at everything associated with an airport. That’s why we call it the master plan.”
-Jane Roberts: 529-2512
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