SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro Transportation Thread

[hookem]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Just imagine if it was the Butt airport though. Pilots would be talking about "flying into Butt".

Or worse... could be a pilot of a cargo plane flying out with a load of primates... (technically plausible, with the hospitals/medical research in SA!)

[oldmanshirt]

Stinson will function as a reliever airport, which I'd assume entails terminal improvements (which are in the pipeline iirc) and lengthening the runways, which I'm not sure about. But its pretty safe to say it will never become SA's version of Hobby or Love Field.

[forward looking]

We, don't know how large San Antonio will expand to in the next hundred years. I am seventy two years old now and the city's growth so far since I was a little kid has been astonishing, already. Two hundred years hence? I remember when the San Antonio population was nearly 400,000 and Austin's population was 80,000. Just within my lifetime. I also recall avoiding larger airports and prefer smaller ones in big cities anyway. O'hare particularly. The pace seems almost frantic in there because of the crowds. Living in overcrowded spaces in this day and age ? I always flew in and out of Midway airport in Chicago even, way back when.
Stinson, little Stinson Field, might be expanded on a large scale someday. When Austin and San Antonio's ever expanding growth reaches each other Stinson could be the best option... plus all Toll roads in between the two cities? Probably. The Rail service of course. I read, not long ago that the Austin -San Antonio-Houston corridor will become a manufacturing giant. One of the largest on Earth.
Crowding may be relieved by now in O'Hare, I don't know. I have been retired for some time.

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Stinson will function as a reliever airport, which I'd assume entails terminal improvements (which are in the pipeline iirc) and lengthening the runways, which I'm not sure about. But its pretty safe to say it will never become SA's version of Hobby or Love Field.

[AwesomeSAView]

Originally Posted by forward looking

We, don't know how large San Antonio will expand to in the next hundred years. I am seventy two years old now and the city's growth so far since I was a little kid has been astonishing, already. Two hundred years hence? I remember when the San Antonio population was nearly 400,000 and Austin's population was 80,000. Just within my lifetime. I also recall avoiding larger airports and prefer smaller ones in big cities anyway. O'hare particularly. The pace seems almost frantic in there because of the crowds. Living in overcrowded spaces in this day and age ? I always flew in and out of Midway airport in Chicago even, way back when.
Stinson, little Stinson Field, might be expanded on a large scale someday. When Austin and San Antonio's ever expanding growth reaches each other Stinson could be the best option... plus all Toll roads in between the two cities? Probably. The Rail service of course. I read, not long ago that the Austin -San Antonio-Houston corridor will become a manufacturing giant. One of the largest on Earth.
Crowding may be relieved by now in O'Hare, I don't know. I have been retired for some time.

Very well said!!!

[forward looking]

Tanks, very much.

Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView

Very well said!!!

[texboy]

I would Love it if someone could drive by and snaps some shots of this!

[ScizzoTX]

^^ I'll be flying into SAT on United tomorrow and will have my camera with me. If I get the chance (and if there is something worth seeing) I'll take some photos and post them here.

[alexjon]

The commuter rail line will more than likely be re-routed slightly for this purpose, I'm sure

[KeepSanAntonioLame]

I doubt stinson will be a commercial airport anytime soon, even with the terminal expansion.

[jowens]

I drove down from Austin and picked up passengers from Terminal 2 and brought them back to the airport this past week.

What an aweful experience!

They can't replace that terminal fast enough!

[texboy]

Originally Posted by jowens

I drove down from Austin and picked up passengers from Terminal 2 and brought them back to the airport this past week.

What an aweful experience!

They can't replace that terminal fast enough!

Its called construction....when has it ever been easy....get over it.

[OfCourse]

Speaking of the airport...

Has anything been done to Terminal 1?

Last time I flew into SAT was in 2002 when I was flying from Harlingen to Los Angeles. The terminal seemed small and outdated (colors, glass, etc) and reminded me of the Golden Girls house.

[oldmanshirt]

Terminal 1 isn't that bad. Sure, it isn't huge or flashy, but its efficiently designed and has a respectable amount of retail and food options. If anything, terminal 2 makes it look worse by forcing people to judge it as the "modern" terminal. Having the new terminals will make terminal 1 look better, imo.

Not that it really has anything to do with anything, but when I was a real little kid, I always got the ceiling of terminal 1 confused with the arch at the entrance to SeaWorld. I'm pretty sure the first time my family flew out of terminal 1, I asked my mom if we were at SeaWorld

[KeepSanAntonioLame]

terminal one is fine. since 2002 they've remodeled the inside, so it's pretty nice.

[Schertz1]

I flew out of SAT this morning; terminal one is nice enough, minus the gate area restrooms. They were not much better than a public park restroom, complete with funky oder, dirty walls, and broken locks.

[Trae]

Originally Posted by Schertz1

I flew out of SAT this morning; terminal one is nice enough, minus the gate area restrooms. They were not much better than a public park restroom, complete with funky oder, dirty walls, and broken locks.

Sad.

[LoneStarMike]

Just a heads up - SAT has now posted their traffic statistics for April, 2008 here.

The text of the release is as follows:

San Antonio International Airport Reports Record-Breaking Year-To-Date Passengers Through April 2008

Total year-to-date passengers (2,662,048) through April 2008 increased 5.19% over the same period in 2007. Total year-to-date domestic passengers (2,612,234) increased 5.74%, while total international passengers (49,850) decreased 17.28% when compared to the same period in 2007. Enplanements for April 2008 (348,920) increased 2.9% when compared to April 2007. Total enplaned and deplaned passengers (693,040) for April 2008 increased 3.47% over the same month in 2007.

The actual report goes into more detail and shows passenger counts broken down by airline, etc.

Passenger statistics for January, February and March 2008 can be found here

[oldmanshirt]

Thanks for the pics, schizzo. My wife and I are flying into SAT next weekend, and it was good to get a heads-up on the traffic congestion.

Its going to be so nice once that new terminal (and the two-level roadway) is opened! Finally an SA native won't have to make any apologies for his airport

[ICEVET]

As a native San Antonian, I have to concede that SAT after expansion will be far superior to what we had previously. Having said that, I could also add that I left San Antonio at the age of 17 when I enlisted, and did not return to permanently reside until I retired from government service at 55. During that time, I lived in six states and two foreign countries. I had a chance to see a few airports, both in the U.S. and abroad.

I have mentioned in other forums that I am somewhat dismayed that the new, completed airport will have no freeway egress ramp. In other words, you will not be able to depart the airport via the new, two-level terminal roadway and smoothly transition onto either U.S. 281 or I-410. It is fine that those leaving the central business district via 281 North can transition into the airport terminal areas on a completed off-ramp. But how can it be that an airport in a FAIRLY large metro area, (I use the term cautiously), adjacent to TWO heavily-trafficked freeways, could end up being served by only ONE lousy freeway ramp?

I corresponded to the TXHighwayMan on this point, and he confirmed that there will be no egress ramp from SAT. He stated that there "will be a study" to determine if an egress ramp is really necessary. I could hardly believe it when I read it. Try leaving SAT and getting on 281 North. You have a minimum of about three traffic signals to negotiate, and during rush hour it can take twenty minutes or longer. I regard this as a major deficiency that should have been taken into consideration as part of the airport expansion and planned for. By the time the "study" is finished, the situation (already bad) will have probably evolved into another one of our traffic "laughing stocks".

[oldmanshirt]

Originally Posted by ICEVET

I have mentioned in other forums that I am somewhat dismayed that the new, completed airport will have no freeway egress ramp. In other words, you will not be able to depart the airport via the new, two-level terminal roadway and smoothly transition onto either U.S. 281 or I-410. It is fine that those leaving the central business district via 281 North can transition into the airport terminal areas on a completed off-ramp. But how can it be that an airport in a FAIRLY large metro area, (I use the term cautiously), adjacent to TWO heavily-trafficked freeways, could end up being served by only ONE lousy freeway ramp?

I corresponded to the TXHighwayMan on this point, and he confirmed that there will be no egress ramp from SAT. He stated that there "will be a study" to determine if an egress ramp is really necessary. I could hardly believe it when I read it. Try leaving SAT and getting on 281 North. You have a minimum of about three traffic signals to negotiate, and during rush hour it can take twenty minutes or longer. I regard this as a major deficiency that should have been taken into consideration as part of the airport expansion and planned for. By the time the "study" is finished, the situation (already bad) will have probably evolved into another one of our traffic "laughing stocks".

I can understand that frustration, and agree that a flyover/direct connect exit makes just as much sense as the existing entrance ramp. However, its in this case that the location of the airport gives SA one of its few advantages when it comes to air travel. In cities like Denver and Houston, it doesn't matter that freeway access is direct; you're still going to end up driving a good 30-45 minutes to get to downtown, even on a good day. In SA, yeah you have to go through a few lights (including the ridiculously long lights at Airport Blvd and 410), but once you get past those, you're home free, as there are ramps going to freeways in every direction that are in close proximity, and you are no farther than 5-8 minutes from most of SA's population and business hubs (downtown, Med Center, Stone Oak, etc). I think this is one case where SAT's convenient location minimizes the inconvenience of not having an egress ramp.