Airport Access Roads

[AlexandriaVA]

How are they in your area? Specifically I want to know about how you actually get onto the airport property.

In DC we have a bit of contrast. All routine traffic to IAD must use the Dulles Access Road, even if just going from VA-28 to the airport grounds. There is a "back door" entrance via Old Ox Rd, but that is for authorized personnel only.

National Airport (DCA) has off-ramps from the GW Parkway (highway access) and a local road access from Crystal City (apt named "Airport Access Road). The airport is within walking distance from the Crystal City neigborhood via Airport Access Road and the Mt Vernon Trail (which parallels the GW Parkway).

BWI has direct highway access, as well as local road access (used in part to get to satellite parking lots), but is not in as much of an urbanized area as DCA is.

Probably the most accessible airport I have used to local city roads was Taiwan's Songshan airport, which has no direct freeway access and is entirely access via local roads (https://www.google.com/maps/@25.0651145,121.5504682,1381m/data=!3m1!1e3)

[jp the roadgeek]

In my area, Bradley (Hartford) and TF Green (Providence) both have direct access from the main interstate via highway.  In the case of Bradley, the most common way is to take I-91 to CT 20 to the end of the connector (CT 20 exits from the highway about 3/4 of a mile before.  You're then dumped onto Schoepolster Rd (SSR 401), and must use a jughandle if you want to access the main road through the airport, which is split into two levels with the upper level for departures and lower level for arrivals.  Alternatively, one could access the airport from the other direction on Schoepolster Rd. from CT 75.  In the case of TF Green, the main entrance is from the connector from I-95, which ends right at the main entrance and dumps you right into the same setup as Bradley.  There is also alternate access from Post Rd (US 1). 

[AlexandriaVA]

I think that direct freeway access does the least for spinoff businesses (hotels, restaurants) and that for a rural/exurban setting, you can maybe survive with some sort of "airport boulevard" which leads from a freeway to the airport (Jacksonville comes to mind).

For urban airports like DCA, a direct local road network connection is key.

[formulanone]

Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby have no direct freeway access. After all, they were built 100 and 90 years ago, respectively. Love Field seems like it takes forever just to get to one of the I-35s. La Guardia appears to be missing access, but it's conveniently close to Grand Central Parkway so it doesn't matter. I don't remember Oakland having direct freeway access, but that was 10 years ago; I recall a lot of stair-stepping to get back to OAK. Midway is also connection-free due to its age. LAX isn't so stellar, unless you're coming off Sepulveda. San Diego has zero direct access to I-5.

The more "modern" airports have the elegant dedicated highway/roadway systems attached to them. So Kansas City, Denver, Detroit, Greensboro, and (yes, my very own) Huntsville are a bit overbuilt for their size. Denver's is a special "Walt Disney World" sort of seclusion from the rest of humanity (Peña Boulevard).

Austin is just about right, but the connection to SH 71 is terrible...they can build toll flyovers for the surrounding areas, but a bunch of underpass traffic lights for one of the fastest-growing airports in the nation? Come on. Milwaukee, O'Hare, Sea-Tac, Pittsburgh get it right. Some, like Atlanta and Newark are a bewildering bunch.

Admittedly, the longer ones lend themselves to a certain type of last-minute rental-car hoonage. The giant 180-degree 4-lane banked loop approaching Fort Lauderdale could have it's own spot on the NASCAR calendar, for example. JFK is another with a tremendous set-up, although I'd imagine it could get backed up in the nation's largest city. Palm Beach has a pretty good one, though you feel like you're going in circles to get to the rental car center (it seems to have been tacked on).

[epzik8]

Baltimore-Washington International Airport has the Aviation Loop around it, formed from parts of Maryland routes 162, 170 and 176. Interstate 195 also leads directly onto BWI's property.

[Rothman]

Stewart Airport in NY has the strangest and worst access, despite various improvements made over the years.

[WISFreeways]

Airport access roads, in some cases, are the highlights of an area's freeway system. I'm talking stuff like San Francisco, Miami, and especially Newark (probably the classic example). It seems like freeway access isn't necessary nor sufficient to prevent traffic backups, and in major cities the lack of freeway access is usually seen in secondary airports (Dallas/Houston/etc.). The roads, while nice, seem sorta overrated; it's in many cases a lot easier getting into the central city via the secondary airport (LaGuardia comes to mind). But that's probably because the lion's share is shuttled to the major airport. Still very nice though.

[ilpt4u]

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

[DTComposer]

LAX isn't so stellar, unless you're coming off Sepulveda.

It should be noted that references to LAX as a control on I-105 (mainly from the I-405 interchange), which would send you to Sepulveda, were replaced by El Segundo, and traffic on I-405 was reinforced to use Century Blvd. to get to LAX. I can only imagine that this was driven by business interests along Century; there's no time savings using either route.

San Jose's (SJC) access is great from CA-87 (it's 500 feet from the exit ramp to the main airport road) and decent from I-880 (along Coleman Avenue - and they recently reconfigured the onramps from Coleman to I-880 south to avoid any signals). Side note: the thing that makes SJC such a convenient airport (three miles from downtown) is also the what keeps San Jose's skyline stunted (downtown is directly under the approach path, so no buildings can exceed about 275 feet in height).

[Buffaboy]

Buffalo Airport is served by NY-33, which dumps traffic from the expressway terminus onto the property at an intersection with Genesee St.

From what I understand they are planning to build an access bridge over Genesee St to allow for a seamless connection.

[sparker]

Mineta International (SJO/San Jose) is laid out as a long, thin facility flanked by a freeway (CA 87) on the east, one across the narrow south end (I-880), and a major street combination (Coleman Ave. and De La Cruz Blvd.) on the west; US 101 lies just north of the runway end, crossing at an angle.  Access to the main airport is reached from CA 87 in a simple manner:  get off the freeway, turn right (SB) or left (NB), and you're on the elongated oval access road through the terminal (parking structures in the middle of the oval).  Additional access is from Brokaw Road, which is the access point to an from SB 101; it's a "spur" off the north end of the terminal oval.  Access to I-880 SB was recently enhanced; originally a 2-lane road ran around the east and south side of the airport property south of the oval, terminating at Coleman Ave.; one used the I-880 interchange there to get to the freeway.  About 2 years ago a "flyunder" box-tunnel was built from this road -- as it passed under the south runway approach -- to SB I-880; ironically, it's underutilized and sees mostly airport-shuttle traffic (although designed for general purpose access).  Overall, it's one of the better laid out terminal access systems out there -- although there are a couple of blind merges to and from the international terminal.

[US 89]

SLC airport is serviced by a direct freeway interchange to I-80, Bangerter Highway, and North Temple. Basically, Bangerter becomes the airport access roads north of 80, so the 80-Bangerter system interchange is also the airport interchange.

When you leave the airport, you are presented with 3 options. One is for 80 west, one is for 154 south, and one is for 80 east to 215 and 15. That last ramp also offers a direct exit to North Temple (old US-40 into town) before it merges onto I-80.
There is also a dedicated ramp to the airport (really more of a C/D to I-80) from I-215, which is what North Temple merges into.

The funny thing is that the airport hotels are not on North Temple, they are one exit west on I-80, on Wright Brothers Dr.

It's one of the best airport access setups I've seen, IMO. (The ridiculously low speed limits and enforcement of those limits on airport property, though...)

[MikeTheActuary]

I think that direct freeway access does the least for spinoff businesses (hotels, restaurants) and that for a rural/exurban setting, you can maybe survive with some sort of "airport boulevard" which leads from a freeway to the airport (Jacksonville comes to mind).

In BDL's case, there is a decent blend of the "direct freeway access" and "airport boulevard" phenomenon.

The Bradley Connector provides the direct freeway access, while there is a decent commercial strip (restaurants, hotels, parking facilities, gas stations) on CT 75, providing access to "the back way in" / supported by airport area workers and traffic to/from the rental car and parking facilities.

CT 20 also helps support traffic flow to/from the light industrial / distribution center district to the west of BDL...although there's still an annoying level of truck traffic on the residential arterial  just to the south of the connector (i.e., my street).

[ghYHZ]

Halifax YHZ......and that's YH Zed not Zee!

......About 37 km north of the city on the NS102 Freeway and accessed by Bell Boulevard which loops through the terminal area then back out to the 102.





https://goo.gl/maps/kS2hQE1u1sG2

https://goo.gl/maps/9H3odxmGanT2


The US flag below indicates the "Pre-Clearance" departures area for flights going direct to the US. Passengers go through US CBP (Customs and Immigration) in Halifax before boarding and just arrive as a domestic flight in the States.....no further formalities.





Note the bi-lingual signs on airport property but once back on the provincial highway.....English only.

[jeffandnicole]

PHL is directly served by I-95 without any traffic lights. 

Taking 95 South, there's a single lane exit off of 95 (I would prefer that this be a 2 lane exit, which is easily doable), and you do have a to merge over again on the ramp to get to the ramps for the arrival and departure roadways.

Going North, you can take Exit 12 which loops you back south into the ramps from 95 South.  You can also easily take Exit 10 (PA 291, Cargo City) which takes you thru a single intersection, but otherwise is actually 1 1/4 miles shorter and provides access to the entire airport.

You can reach the airport in full via Rt. 291 as well without needing to travel 95.

Leaving the airport, they have some less-friendly driving conditions (especially going towards 95 North), with non-existent merges or very short merge zones. The pavement is there to stripe for longer accel lanes; I don't know why they chose a more hazardous approach to this.

Recirculation within the airport is actually very easy also, especially as they re-routed PA 291 away from the airport.  They use the former 291 South to get you back to the arrival/departure terminals.  Former 291 North, where the pavement still exists, is used in a Southbound direction for both the Cell Phone waiting lot and the Uber/Lyft dispatch lot.

[Brandon]

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.

[Eth]

Some, like Atlanta and Newark are a bewildering bunch.

I haven't actually driven to ATL in several years (I see little point in spending $12/day or whatever to park when a round trip on MARTA costs me all of $4.25), but yeah, I'd say that's accurate.

There's direct-ish access to the domestic terminal from I-85 southbound (exit 72, also serving Camp Creek Pkwy/poorly-signed GA 6) and northbound (exit 71, also serving GA 139/Riverdale Rd). There's no direct freeway access to the international terminal, though; the closest you can get is via I-75's exit 239. I-85 southbound exit 74 will get you to the loop road, a surface route that you'll have to take for 2+ miles around the outside of the airport to get to the international terminal. Northbound, that requires exit 73A (Virginia Ave) followed by a couple of extra turns to reach the loop road.

I-285 drivers probably have the most complicated (and greatest variety of) ways in, though. From the outer loop, the signed route to the domestic terminal is via exit 61 onto I-85 northbound, from which you would then take the aforementioned Riverdale Rd exit; you could alternatively take exit 62 toward GA 279/Old National Hwy and into the labyrinth of C/D roads into which the I-85 northbound access ultimately feeds. Or if you really want, you can proceed to Riverdale Rd at exit 60, but that would be the long way in. From the inner loop, exit 61 into the C/D roads for I-85 northbound is your freeway-based route, with Riverdale Rd as an alternate ground-based option. International-terminal-bound drivers on the outer loop have exit 59 to the surface airport loop road, about 1.5 miles from the final terminal access point. Those on the inner loop will use exit 58, from which they have three options: the shortest overall distance on US 19/41 north to C.W. Grant Pkwy, which feeds directly into the international terminal; I-75 north to exit 239, which has the advantage of being a right turn onto C.W. Grant instead of a left; or you could continue directly to the loop road, which requires an extra left turn and quite a bit of backtracking.

And that's all just for getting into the airport, never mind getting out.

[inkyatari]

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.

I always thought at the very least they should make Cicero a full freeway from I-55 to MDW.  Too many businesses along the route for that to be feasible, however.

[Brandon]

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.

I always thought at the very least they should make Cicero a full freeway from I-55 to MDW.  Too many businesses along the route for that to be feasible, however.

Plus, it would deprive Chicago of red light camera revenue.  There's at least three along that stretch (including at I-55).

[thenetwork]

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.

[Joe The Dragon]

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

Will the western terminal be linked the to toll roads (seen in some plans) or just york rd to a small parking / waiting area (seen in other plans)?

and it may be dead http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/2017/02/in-a-betrayal-of-chicago-promise-to-suburbs-western-terminal-disappears-from-ohare-expansion-plans/

[machias]

Stewart Airport in NY has the strangest and worst access, despite various improvements made over the years.

But it does have the cleverly numbered NY 747.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

MSP has two terminals accessed by road at different locations.

Lindbergh (Terminal 1): Access is off the MN 5 freeway a mile NE of I-494 and a mile SW of MN 55. The freeway is never congested. The EB exit to the airport is a two-lane ramp. Airport re-access is a flyover loop ramp.

Humphrey (Terminal 2): The smaller one. Access is by surface road 34th Ave. Getting in and out of Humphrey is a breeze.

[ilpt4u]

Will the western terminal be linked the to toll roads (seen in some plans) or just york rd to a small parking / waiting area (seen in other plans)?

and it may be dead http://www.chicagonow.com/dennis-byrnes-barbershop/2017/02/in-a-betrayal-of-chicago-promise-to-suburbs-western-terminal-disappears-from-ohare-expansion-plans/

The Western Access Terminal may never happen, but if it does, the future 390/490 junction is supposed to be engineered in a way that allows 390 to continue as a through road to be the Western Access Road to ORD

[KEVIN_224]

Boston's Logan Airport (BOS) is very near the eastern terminus of I-90. Other access is via MA Route 1A.

T.F. Green Airport is actually south of Providence, mostly in the city of Warwick. The access road from I-95 is RI Route 37.

I've sometimes seen Bradley (BDL) in Windsor Locks, CT get labeled as Hartford/Springfield. As mentioned earlier, it's Exit 40 from I-91 on the Windsor/Windsor Locks town line. When I was taking flights 7 years ago, the Bradley Flyer city bus from CT Transit went up some of I-91. However, it would take (the combined) Exit 39/41 to Kennedy Road, then eventually get to CT Route 75 and Shoephester Road.

The Portland Jetport (PWM) is reached from Exit 46 of I-95/Maine Turnpike. I want to say it's Jetport Boulevard? I do know that ME Route 9 goes around the west side of the airport, just north of the Maine Mall area.