Intermodal airport-to-city-center passenger transportation at the 20 largest U.S. air carrier airports : the past, present, and future

750373PDFJournal ArticleAirport accessIntermodal transportationPublic transitAirport planningCity planningTransportation planningSurveysData collectionUnited StatesUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha. Aviation InstituteLehrer, Henry R.Freeman, AimeeNTL-AVIATION-AVIATIONNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Planning and PolicyNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATIONNTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Transit Planning and PolicyNTL-FREIGHT-IntermodalismBTS Data DirectoryThe 20 largest U.S. air carrier airports handle close to 60 percent of all the passengers enplaned in the United States. While the intra-airport movement of these passengers has become more efficient in recent years, the most difficult and challenging airport-associated journey is still between the airport and the city-center. The root cause of this problem is likely due to the unexpected growth of air transportation following U.S. airline deregulation in 1978. Most major U.S. cities lacked a well-planned intermodal transportation infrastructure, particularly one that had an airport interface. Additionally, the automobile remains the predominant short-haul passenger transportation system in the United States. This paper presents an overview and analysis of the top 20 U.S. air carrier airports' efforts in the past, present, and in the future to provide intermodal passenger transportation between the airport and city-center. Airport planners, developers, and management personnel in the targeted cities were surveyed concerning these issues. These data will be used to extend the knowledge-base concerning development of the U.S. intermodal airport passenger transportation infrastructure