The Roosevelt Blvd Subway and PNE

I'm not sure if this has occurred to anyone else, and if it has I apologize for reiterating it.

What's the possibility of using the Roosevelt Blvd Subway to increase the amount of passenger traffic through Philadelphia's Northeast Airport? IIRC the travel time into the city given for the Alternative C operation was 32 minutes from Southampton Rd to City Hall. Since both the R1 Airport is 23 minutes end to end and Red Lion Rd is closer to City Hall than Southampton Rd it doesn't seem unlikely that PNE could be used as a second airport for commuter flights into Philadelphia. The ride would be convenient, cheap, and relatively fast, potentially making it every bit as convenient for access from Center City as PHL currently is.

I realize this plan has issues. NIMBYs around Philly Northeast Airport aren't going to appreciate increased traffic. Also the Roosevelt Blvd subway has the notable problem of being both unbuilt and not even proposed by the current folks running the system.

The 2.5 to 3 billion dollar pricetag of the Alternative C proposal for the Roosevelt Blvd Subway was cited as a serious problem with it's feasibility. If Philadelphia's total air capacity could be increased simply by making better use of PNE with the Blvd Subway rather than finding new ways to shoehorn runways into PHL, as well as the potential traffic abatement on the Blvd and I-95, wouldn't it become easier to find the 2.5 billion dollars to build this thing?

http://www.libertynet.org/netis/Draft%2 ... Report.pdf

Not sure the physical room exists to make NE Philly airport an international airport if thats what you're saying, but I doubt it. Anyone know for sure?

There is also the issue of no commercial carrier at the Northeast Airport. I thought I also read that they were going to possibly get rid of a runway and sell the land, but I could be mistaken.

Sean@Temple

Unless Conrail sells the Bustleton Branch and its reguaged, I doubt you will ever see a subway orany other rail transit up the blvd.

Usafcop580 wrote:Unless Conrail sells the Bustleton Branch and its reguaged, I doubt you will ever see a subway orany other rail transit up the blvd.

Why would it need to be regauged?

And forgive me while I dare to hope

Hang some wire on the Bustleton branch, build a terminal at PNE and you could have the R1-1/2!

Umblehoon wrote:

Usafcop580 wrote:Unless Conrail sells the Bustleton Branch and its reguaged, I doubt you will ever see a subway orany other rail transit up the blvd.

Why would it need to be regauged?

And forgive me while I dare to hope

To many areas of the line the tracks are misaligned. There was a major derailment on there about 6 years ago at the Grant Ave. crossing and generally a boxcar would get derailed every so often.

Also PNE is able to handle some smaller jets that US Air etc use. I think 737's and the such because it does have the runway space in case of an emergency.

As an alternative idea, would Willow Grove Naval Air Station be suitable for conversion to a passenger airport if closed by the BRAC process?

The R2 Warminster line could be extended to the terminal and some R1 Airport line trains could provide service between both airports.

Willow Grove certainly has the runway length to be a passenger airport. It regularly hosts Air Force One which as you know is a 747, and was also once designated as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle. The biggest obstacle to conversion would be the NIMBYs in the Horsham and Warrington areas and the safety and noise concerns that they would undoubtedly raise.

While the option of using NE Philly airport as a commuter airport sounds like a good idea....there is a dense residential population on almost every side of the airport which I'm sure would protest against any significant increases in air traffic.

NASJRB Willow Grove/Willow Grove ARS will not be closed because its a major resere facility.

Says who?

Check out the preliminary BRAC recommendations. Willow Grove NAS is the largest facility in PA slated for closure.

The question becomes, is PHL so capacity-constrained as to warrant Willow Grove's conversion? The answer probably lies in the realignment of service after the US Airways/America West merger. If SWA can't pick up enough gates to expand, expect them to push for rapid conversion of Willow Grove. Else, PHL will have too much empty space to warrant another airport in the area (see St Louis/Lambert after the TWA/American pullout and St Louis/Mid America, a converted BRAC base with little/no service.)

Turn WGNAS into a housing cluster, or maybe a big mall. I'll restrain myself from getting political, but I am laughing.

WG has been on the list twice before and has survived both times. Last time DoD ended up shutting down the Philly navy yard/Navy hospital facility in South Philly and moving everything to Norfolk. PNSY had several large landing strips which can accomodate all the aircraft at Willow Grove. Also Willow Grove has several reserve units which have no other place to go and shutting down whole military units especially during a time of war wont be happening. If it were to shut down most likely part of the land would go back to the orginally land owner, apart would become a museum and some of the navy owned housing would be sold off.

CComMack wrote:The question becomes, is PHL so capacity-constrained as to warrant Willow Grove's conversion?

PHL is close to capacity runway-wise, which is why the proposal to realign runways so an additional one can be fit in is on the table (and to relate this to the forum topic: said proposal has some Delco legislators hacked off enough to be talking about a state takeover of the airport to prevent any planes from taking off over their constituents--that new state agency would also be a vehicle for a SEPTA takeover). PHL should be OK terminal-wise now that the two new terminals are open.

In the long run, there's going to need to be some added commercial airline capacity in the region though--at PHL or somewhere else, and I don't know enough to speculate which it'll be or which would be best.