Airport Access Roads

[ilpt4u]

I can't really add anything special about STL -- the Airport Access Road for Lambert Field is multiple exits on I-70 -- the Airfield itself is situated between I-70, I-270, and I-170. US 67 tunnels under one of the Runways.

The Access Road itself is signalized, so not a free-flowing roadway. It basically just parallels I-70 north of the Interstate, with your standard turn-offs for the 2 Terminals, Parking, Rental Cars, and Interstate entrances/exits. The STL MetroLink train runs Elevated right by the Access Road. One could really call the Airport Access Road a Frontage Road for I-70 that serves the Airport

Direct Access is from I-70 mainly, but local roads, mainly Natural Bridge Road and Lindbergh Blvd, do provide non-Freeway access to the Airport and Access Road

IND Airport was redone not too long ago, moving the Terminal and Access to directly from I-70, and the Access Road is now a Freeflow road. I believe non-Freeway access is possible via Perimeter Rd, which can be reached from US 40 and the Reagan Pkwy. There is (almost) a Tollway-style Service Plaza on the Airport Access Road between I-70 and the Terminal -- don't know if it is Privately owned or functions more like Airport Property for Lease -- Google Maps shows the Shell and Subway Plaza is on Airport property. It is even signed on the Airport BBS as "Service Plaza"

No love here yet for LAS -- come on, we all love when the Cabbie Long-Hauls to the Strip by taking the Tunnel out to the 215 then the 15, instead of the much shorter trip North on Paradise Rd! Paradise Rd pretty much is the Airport Access Road, and as mentioned, has access to I-215 and nearby I-15, and also Local Arterial access North via Paradise Rd

[Scott5114]

Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) is only directly served by Meridian Avenue, which kind of cul-de-sacs at the airport. You can connect to Meridian via a freeway spur off of I-44 called Airport Road. Originally, this was an unnumbered route, but about 10 years ago SH-152 was realigned onto it.

[Strider]

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI-GSO Airport) is now served by I-73; Exit 109 (which was recently extended on the former Bryan Blvd from the Loop northwards to US 220 just north of Summerfield.) and it also includes the access to Old Oak Ridge Rd (local road).

The ramps to PTI Airport will take you to the original Bryan Blvd (former Airport Parkway; now renamed Ted Johnson Parkway) before it was first relocated to make a room for the runaway. (I-73 is the second relocation or Bryan).

[jakeroot]

I have no photos of my own, but one of my favorite access roads is to the Victoria International Airport (YYJ) on Vancouver Island (in Sidney), BC. Hwy 17 runs north-south east of the airport, with a basic two-lane connector road (Willingdon Road & Canora Road) between the highway/freeway and the airport

Up until 2009-2010, the intersection with Hwy 17 was a signal. Hwy 17 wasn't much of a freeway at that point. Still isn't today, but at least feels like it through the new interchange they built for the airport...



This new interchange allows much quicker movement between Hwy 17 and the airport's connecting road. The roundabouts even have these airport symbols painted on the ground to help guide drivers through the roundabouts:



Along with the construction of this relatively large dumbell interchange, several roundabouts were added near the airport, including the only proper turbo roundabout that I've seen in North America:

[hm insulators]

LAX and Phoenix Sky Harbor having been mentioned, about all I have to add about airports I'm familiar with is Honolulu. Their airport access road is off the H-1 Freeway Viaduct.

Kauai has a much smaller airport, with as far as I know, just the two-lane Ahukini Road Hawaii 570 (at least it was two-lane in 1986). Leaving the airport, shortly afterward there is an intersection with Kapule Hwy (Hawaii 51). A left turn takes you toward the harbor and Kauai Marriott Resort, a right turn allows you to bypass Hanamaulu and join Kuhio Highway (Hawaii 56) just north of there, and staying on Ahukini Road another mile then turning left onto Kuhio takes you into "downtown" Lihue.

[D-Dey65]

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
This airport is unique in that it has TWO freeway-grade access roads.

• The Van Wyck Expressway (I-678).  The southern end of this highway leads into the airport core.  It also has an interchange with the Belt Parkway, but with access primarily to and from the west.  As such, most passengers from New York City use this route.
• The (aptly-named) JFK Expressway.  Originally a surface street leading to the Rockaway Turnpike (148th Street?), this was upgraded to a freeway sometime in the 80s, I think.  There's a directional interchange with the Belt Parkway to and from the east, so this route is mostly used by those originating from eastern Queens and Long Island.  At the on-ramp from the Belt Pkwy is a rather unusual BGS, reading "Passenger terminals 2.5 miles ahead".  Have you ever seen a BGS use decimals for mileage, rather than fractions?

When that was built, it gave me hope that this would also lead to the completion of the Clearview Expressway (I-295). Sadly it didn't.

There's also the Nassau Expressway, which after years of stalling by environmental and civics groups finally was partially built near the airport in the 1980's. The problem is, only the eastbound lanes were built there, and the portion in the vicinity of the Rockaways is not a limited-access highway!!

[lepidopteran]

LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City

This airport doesn't really have much of an access road, since it sits only a hundred yards or two from the Grand Central Parkway, unsigned section.  Different parts of the airport have separate exits off the GCP, and there is/was signage on the Parkway telling which airlines are where.

The oldest part of the airport is Terminal A, or the Marine Air Terminal, dating back to the days of commercial seaplanes (e.g., beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark). This is accessed by ordinary surface streets and Marine Terminal Rd., and is apparently shutting down soon.

The "main" terminal (B), and the Delta terminal (connected C and D) have their own interchange ramps, some of which are rather tight loops.  But they are also connected via overpass directly to 94th St. and 102nd St. in Queens.  Incidentally, Terminal C started out as a mini shuttle-flight terminal built by Eastern Airlines.  For a time after that, DT bought it and called it the "Trump Shuttle", signing it as such on the Parkway.  Would this be the only time a President's name was on a freeway BGS before he took office?  Terminal C was eventually built out by US Airways before being taken over by Delta.

All this is about to change.  The much-maligned Terminal B (liked to a third-world country by some) is being replaced by a new pair of concourses, and a headhouse that will be even closer to the Parkway than it is now!  As such, the access road will essentially be a service road to the GCP.  This is all being built as we speak.  C and D will also be rebuilt, but the roads will be a little further away.  Provisions are even being made for a rail connection -- something LGA never, ever had, for as much as New York relies on the subway.

[D-Dey65]

The oldest part of the airport is Terminal A, or the Marine Air Terminal, dating back to the days of commercial seaplanes (e.g., beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark). This is accessed by ordinary surface streets and Marine Terminal Rd., and is apparently shutting down soon.

Well, that sucks. That terminal is on the National Register of Historic Places, and should be preserved because of that status. Anyway, I thought the Airport Access roads at LaGuardia, were already the collection of service roads along the Grand Central.

[Max Rockatansky]

The access road at Fresno-Yosemite I believe is unnamed and meets Clinton Avenue.  Really it would be notable at all if it didn't have US 99 mistakenly posted on a guide sign.

0 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

[ET21]

Lets see...ORD is serviced by the West End of the Kennedy Expressway, numbered I-190 at this point. I-190 is easily accessible from the Kennedy/I-90 from Downtown, the Jane Addams Tollway/I-90 from the Northwest suburbs, and I-294/Tri-State Tollway from the North, West, and South Suburbs.

And with the EOE/now EOT/IL 390 being built actually to the ORD Western edge, and the O'Hare Western Bypass road/future IL? Interstate? 490 to be built as well, should the Western Access Terminal ever be built, it will have good freeway connections as well

Basically, once the new IL/I-490 is built, ORD will be bound by Tollroads on all sides -- Jane Addams on the North, Tri State on the East and Southeast, and future 490 on the West and Southwest

MDW, I-55 gets you decently close, but IL 50/Cicero Ave must be used to reach the actual airport. The canceled Crosstown Expressway/I-494 would have ran pretty close to MDW, but it was canceled. MDW is similar to HOU and DAL in being the older airports that predates the interstate/expressway system

ORD is rather easy to get to, and I-190 (basically a stub of the Kennedy Expressway) goes directly to the terminals.  However, there is only one controlled access route that is toll-free to/from ORD, and that's the Kennedy Expressway (I-90).  You can also get to ORD using Mannheim Road (US-12/45) to its interchange with I-190.  At this point, who knows if the western access will ever be completed.  https://goo.gl/maps/YN2WBZzXjHM2

As for MDW, there are exit ramps from Cicero Avenue (IL-50), and a traffic signal controlling the movement exiting from the airport for the terminal itself.  Long term parking is a short distance away along 55th Street (other than the garage adjacent to the terminal).  https://goo.gl/maps/yEdwAZAMxaP2

Both also are accessible via the L.  Blue Line for ORD and Orange Line for MDW.

Update for Midway, some of the ramps might be re-done with the new upgrades coming to the Airport through 2019.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-midway-airport-security--449800303.html

[MikeTheActuary]

Update for Midway, some of the ramps might be re-done with the new upgrades coming to the Airport through 2019.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-midway-airport-security--449800303.html

Goodness.  First they get rid of Potbelly Subs.  Now they plan to make a mess inside.  I'm going to start disliking connecting at MDW. 

[lepidopteran]

The oldest part of the airport is Terminal A, or the Marine Air Terminal, dating back to the days of commercial seaplanes (e.g., beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark). This is accessed by ordinary surface streets and Marine Terminal Rd., and is apparently shutting down soon.

Well, that sucks. That terminal is on the National Register of Historic Places, and should be preserved because of that status. Anyway, I thought the Airport Access roads at LaGuardia, were already the collection of service roads along the Grand Central.

Looks like I was incorrect.  It's only the Delta Shuttle that's moving to Terminals C and D.  Other airlines should be taking it's place at A.  (For the uninitiated, "shuttle" refers to flights between New York and Boston and DC, and I think some points in between.)

They did, however, recently demolish one of the landmark hangars at LGA.  They also did away with that unique control tower, the one with those ship-like portholes.

[Bickendan]

PDX has a straightforward yet very effective setup withthe expressway configuration with Airport Way from I-205. The only weak point, as it were, is the intersection with OR 213 and the Red Line MAX light rail, and airport traffic trying to get onto the Jackson Bridge into Washington.

[citrus]

PDX has a straightforward yet very effective setup withthe expressway configuration with Airport Way from I-205. The only weak point, as it were, is the intersection with OR 213 and the Red Line MAX light rail, and airport traffic trying to get onto the Jackson Bridge into Washington.

Whenever I'm at PDX, by car or by light rail, I'm always wishing I didn't have to go so far east from the airport before heading downtown.

[Buck87]

CLE/Cleveland Hopkins Airport is served by SR-237, a limited access freeway.  The only "true" interstate connections to/from the airport is I-71 north of the airport and I-480 east of the airport.  Access to the south and west is via a series of surface streets.

A "pipe dream",  now that a lot of the old neighboring Ford Motor Facility in Brook Park has been taken down, would be to make a direct freeway or access road connection to I-71 connecting the current airport roadways to I-71 and create a new interchange incorporating the new road with the current Snow Road/Engle Road interchanges.   That would give all interstate traffic on I-71 and I-480 direct freeway connections to the airport without the use of surface streets.

Unfortunately, with all of the downsizing and closing of their newest terminal in the last several years, CLE will probably rely on SR-237 to get people in and out of there for the next several decades without even considering a new "main entrance/gateway" to the airport.

Yeah, access to and from the west is a bit of a pain in the ass. Especially getting from the Airport to I-480 west.

[mrsman]

A few California ones, which have been mentioned before but with some more detail:

- San Francisco: While the current set of ramps to the International terminal date to the 1990s, the main direct-to-freeway airport loop connection to US 101 (and I-380) has existed since the 1950s, based on a HistoricAerials search (a 1946 overhead - around the time construction for the Bayshore Freeway began - shows almost nothing in that area, in comparison).

- Oakland: Airport Drive/98th Avenue provides a connection to 880/Nimitz Freeway, however 98th has four intersections from 880 west to Airport Access Road before reaching the limited-access routing to the terminal loop.

- San Diego: Though today's setup involves using the surface arterial Harbor Drive to get to the terminals, the pre-1975 configuration had much more direct access from the old US 101 freeway stub Pacific Highway (which connects to today's I-5) which abuts the north perimeter of Lindbergh Field.

- LAX: A bit of a hybrid, using the 105 west to 1 north (Sepulveda) route through the airport tunnel does allow one to access the airport without reaching a stoplight.

There is absolutley a stoplight at the exit from 105 to Sepulveda.

The orientation of LAX, the way it was designed since the 1961 expansion (when they opened the terminals that are west of Sepulveda, the original airport terminals from 1946-1961 were east of Sepulveda, the area is now for cargo only) was to open directly onto Century Blvd.  If you can see the orientation of the loop roads, on both levels, most lanes direct to Century Blvd and side ramps (modified cloverleaf) lead to Sepulveda.  (You can't even exit to Sepulveda northbound from the upper level.)

It's obvious that they had intended for some type of airport access freeway to be built parallel to Century that would make use of these ramps so that the main access from the airport would head directly east.  If the western 105 (west of 405) were built along the Centrury corridor, instead of along the Imperial Hwy corridor, it would have used these ramps and all lanes of the freeway would feed into the airport.  Unfortunately, this road was never built.  I-105 freeway lanes lead to Imeprial Highway which ends at a relatively uncrowded beach.  The airport access is provided by a 2 lane exit to Sepulveda north that ends in a stoplight.*  This exit is perennially jammed and causes backups on the 105 freeway.

Coming from the north, those in the know, try to make use of little known 96th street as an access to the airport.  It avoids the terrible traffic signal at the Sepulveda 105 exit and the super congested Century Blvd corridor.  96th has a bridge over Sepulveda and can access Airport Blvd which leads toward La Tijera and La Cienega.

So the 105 extension west did not provide direct freeway access to LAX.  It is still accessed by surface streets.

* Leaving the airport, you don't encounter traffic signals.  Take a ramp to Sepulveda south and you merge onto Sepulveda and then head into a tunnel under the runways.  The first exit after the tunnel is the onramp to 105 east.  By the airport's design, it is not the main exit, but it is likely the fastest way to get to most of the LA area.

[Bickendan]

PDX has a straightforward yet very effective setup withthe expressway configuration with Airport Way from I-205. The only weak point, as it were, is the intersection with OR 213 and the Red Line MAX light rail, and airport traffic trying to get onto the Jackson Bridge into Washington.

Whenever I'm at PDX, by car or by light rail, I'm always wishing I didn't have to go so far east from the airport before heading downtown.

That's actually never been an issue for me, because of the necessity of pushing I-205 further east than it is now for the eastbound motion to be minimized.
To put it in perspective: Original alignments for I-205 had it along 52nd Ave (as the Laurelhurst Freeway). That would have pushed the freeway and Columbia River crossing WEST of where PDX is now. Community pushback from both Lake Oswego and Laurelhurst pushed I-205 south and east, initially to 111th Ave, then to 95th Ave where it is now.
Yellowbook drafts: From about where OR 217 meets I-5, with a crossing near Oak Grove Blvd on the eastside (sorely needed as is, IMO) in downtown Lake Oswego, a northesterly arc to SE 52nd Ave, a NW arc toward 47th with the Mt Hood Frwy between Powell and Division, then slowly arcing toward NE 33rd with then I-80N before crossing into Washington.
Alternatives were with the so-called Johnson Creek Freeway -- an extension of the Multnomah Expressway (from the west of I-5 west of the Terwilliger Curves), going east down the ravine that Taylor's Ferry Rd goes down to Macadam, crossing just north of the Sellwood Bridge, and following Tacoma St/Johnson Creek Blvd then suddenly turning north at 52nd.

[longhorn]

As I stated on another post, PHX Sky Harbor road system is unique in that one drives on the "wrong side" though the airport.