Lawrenceville.Talk

By John

August 2, 2007 7:45 AM | Link to this

Oooh, great idea. You can’t drive through Gwinnett County as it is and I think that it is a great idea to add a major airport and the traffic that would go with it to the mix. If another airport is to be built it should be about halfway between Atlanta and Macon with a new limited access highway to Columbus, that way it could serve all three cities.

By Pam

August 2, 2007 7:49 AM | Link to this

The Chairman of the Gwinnett County Commissioners has already stated that there is absolutely no room to expand the Briscoe Airport in Lawrenceville. There are retail and homes already surrounding this airport, so it will remain just for private jets and small planes. As it should!!!

By Jeff

August 2, 2007 7:53 AM | Link to this

Gwinnett has a great Arena, great shopping, great fine dining, great sports teams and great schools. We don’t need an airport to add to the one thing that’s not great in Gwinnett: Traffic!!

By DYJ

August 2, 2007 8:01 AM | Link to this

They won’t let MARTA run out there why would they let an airport?

By JJ

August 2, 2007 8:19 AM | Link to this

Oh H3ll NO!!! I don’t want a huge airport in my back yard.

Lawrenceville simply cannot handle a major airport. Property values would plummet, people would move in droves and it would cause way more development than we have now.

Put a new airport in south or east Georgia. I don’t want it in Gwinnett.

By cdan

August 2, 2007 8:21 AM | Link to this

Just Expand PDK.

By jeffrye

August 2, 2007 8:23 AM | Link to this

I think it is a fantastic idea to add a major airport to the stripmalls, overpriced non-descript subdivisions, asian and hispanic gang problems, traffic gridlock and and general suburban sprawl that is Gwinnett County 2007. good luck Gwinnettians!! I’ll take my city of Atlanta any day!!!

By Lance

August 2, 2007 8:36 AM | Link to this

Jeffrye - Lat time I checked, Atlanta doubles if not triples Gwinnett in crimes. It’s the nature of population and commen sense. The higher populated areas will have larger crime. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Bad people will be bad and we don’t live in a perfect world.

By nobody

August 2, 2007 8:46 AM | Link to this

Eventually, they will have to put an airport on the northside. It might as well be in Gwinnett county. In a few years Gwinnett is going to be just as bad as Clayton county.

By Tanner G

August 2, 2007 8:48 AM | Link to this

The place for the 2nd airport is in Marietta. They could lease land from the Federal government to build a terminal for private use. The runway, which can and does accomodate heavy aircraft on a daily basis already, is the runway at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. It is already common to see all types of large and loud military aircraft landing and departing, doing touch and goes all day long. No one would even notice if Delta, Southwest, and Airtran jets circled the area as well. This is done in many other parts of the country already (Ft. Walton Bch, FL and Tucson, AZ just to name two). The area is pretty congested on a daily basis, but is mostly zoned industrial and commercial and could handle the extra volume of traffic. This makes the most sense….PERIOD!! The reason that this will probably not happen is that NO ONE would drive to Hartsfield anymore unless they had an international flight….which is not the norm for most of the locals who use the Atl Airport now.

TG

By Greg

August 2, 2007 8:51 AM | Link to this

There is no room, drive each street by the airport in L’ville, either new homes, bussinesses, or unusable terrain/wet lands. If they do expand the airport there, somehow, it’d make saturdays/sunday on 316 even worse than UGA home games already make it. There has to be a better place, North of Cumming maybe.

By Andrew

August 2, 2007 9:06 AM | Link to this

An airport closer to the population that uses it most, isn’t gonna do anything but make that population move further away cause of the decrease in property value.

By Capt

August 2, 2007 9:09 AM | Link to this

Hey here is a hint…you can keep the following: 1. Airport in Gwinnett..no way 2. Shirley Franklin 3. Atlanta Thugs 4. Marta 5. all of Atlanta’s political corruption ( we have enough of our own) 6. Right now you can still walk the streets in Lawrenceville day and night. Can you do that in Atlanta without being mugged or killed. 7. Keep your corrupt police. We don’t have that and don’t want it. 8. I know you will find this strange but we acturally balance our budget. How bout you? 9. Take the hint…stay in Atlanta…you are not wanted in Gwinnett

By Diogenes

August 2, 2007 9:18 AM | Link to this

THE answer to this problem is to convert Dobbins. The government is continually looking for airbases to close, and I have heard more than one rumor that Dobbins is to be phased out within the next ten years, anyway. The runway is already plenty long. There certainly is enough land available on the base. With the already constant (loud!) military traffic, no one in the area can take a legitimate NIMBY approach. It’s close (Chattanooga??? Are you serious?). It’s right off I-75, and close to I-285, so access isn’t an issue. Air traffic controllers already have flight patterns clearly worked out between the two. What am I missing here?

By Tanner G

August 2, 2007 9:32 AM | Link to this

The Dobbins idea scares the heck out of the local politicians. This makes so much sense that it is scary. But….what happens to the monstrosity that they have built down there? The Marietta location lends itself so well to the vast majority of local people who use the airport weekly, that it would render that overgrown patch of ground and air gridlock to nothing more than a hub and spoke transition point for those passing through and an international terminal. The local population would avoid HJ with a Marietta alternative available. The people of Atlanta need to mount an effort to make the Marietta location a reality, but keep in mind the huge political problem we have in HJ Atl Intl Airport…..

By GaConservative

August 2, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this

All you smoldering racists seem to forget that Atlanta in the engine for this region’s economy.

Not Gwinnett.

Not Lawrenceville.

You are a pimple on Atlanta’s backside.

By Motorcyclist

August 2, 2007 9:33 AM | Link to this

I believe you are wrong about the traffic. Today for example, some amount of the morning traffic heading south is people heading south to Hartsfield 45 miles away. If they were heading north towards Gainseville, for example, the southbound traffic would actually be lighter. We need to do it NOW. Congestion will only get worse.

By jabster

August 2, 2007 9:43 AM | Link to this

Would somebody PLEASE tell me the problem with Dobbins (besides the fact that it only has one runway)? If THAT is an issue, then use Charlie Brown, which has three (well, two). Or build a new runway parallel to the existing one once the airbase closes. Brownfield development at its finest. The only real problem I could see with Dobbins would be its proximity to Lockheed (security concern with incoming and outgoing commercial aircraft).

Briscoe is hemmed in by the CSX RR, Ga. 316, US 29, and a lot of new government development (including the new Gwinco police academy, the new Gwinco water department, the new dog pound, etc.). Not to mention that 316 is now a traffic nightmare 24/7/365.2425.

By shan

August 2, 2007 9:46 AM | Link to this

This is exactly what’s wrong with the world. “We need an airport …. but not in MY backyard!” The same goes for jails, schools, and Northern Arc’s!

However, I suppose it’s ok in this case, because the only good reason to go through Gwinnett right now is to get to Athens. I sure don’t want to have to go there for an airport.

By Jason

August 2, 2007 9:49 AM | Link to this

While I agree that Dobbins is probably the best overall solution (read cheapest to build up) it will only work if access from Gwinnett and North Fulton can be improved. Taking 285 or worse, the surface streets can take all day to get from Lawrenceville to Marietta.

Ideally, the new airport would be in the Dawsonville area to be in the middle of the major northern suburbs. Therefore, Gainesville might not be a bad idea. However, when mentioning places like Columbus, Chattanooga, Gainesville, etc. how come no one ever mentions Athens as an option?

By DC

August 2, 2007 10:03 AM | Link to this

Hey Kevin—

Got an idea, why don’t you make the Hwy 316 toll road proposal an alternate runway and charge a toll for all passengers on landing & departing planes? That way, if it does not make sense, you all can sign off on it, and act like you don’t know what happened, kinda like usual.

By DC

August 2, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this

Hey Kevin—

Got an idea, why don’t you make the Hwy 316 toll road proposal an alternate runway and charge a toll for all passengers on landing & departing planes? That way, if it does not make sense, you all can sign off on it, and act like you don’t know what happened, kinda like usual.

By TG

August 2, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this

With all the GA cities and even a TN city being mentioned, what about Rome? The airport there actually had commercial service in the 70’s prior to deregulation. That long runway remains open there. There is no traffic to speak of, at least the 45 minutes to 1 and 1/2 hours of travel necessary to get there would be spent with the car actually moving……

By jabster

August 2, 2007 10:12 AM | Link to this

Jason-

Some good points you made.

Location will always be a compromise. Go too far out and the drive mileage-wise will be too long, and transit access will be iffy or expensive. Plus, you would be cutting a greenfield and encouraging sprawl to some extent. Go intown, you have more of a NIMBY and traffic factor.

Gainesville wouldn’t be a bad idea—it’s already in the middle of an industrial area, and easy access to I-985 via Ga. 60. There’s room to expand one of two runways (the other is hemmed in between the CSX and Norfolk Southern RRs)

Athens would be good, too—it already has limited commercial service—but you’d have to include an overhaul of Ga. 316, end-to-end (and maybe Loop 10/Athens Perimeter) in the pricetag.

IMNSHO, Columbus and Chatta would be too far out.

By Ed

August 2, 2007 10:17 AM | Link to this

Years ago the State of Georgia did a 20 Year Aviation System Plan Update, and it designated Briscoe Field as one of the airports to be “upgraded” (from a General Reliever Airport to a Regional). The uproar in Gwinnett was historical, about 2,000 citizens turned out in protest, and the state backed off, and literally had to toss out and reprint its Plan. Gwinnett doesn’t want a larger airport. Find a county and residents that do. Paulding County?

By Ray

August 2, 2007 10:22 AM | Link to this

This should not be made into a racist issue. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport has served the Atlanta region well and has been run very well by the City of Atlanta. Making false statements and saying names like thugs just tells what kind of person you are and makes your blog meaningless. Gwinnett and Lawrenceville has its share of crime and curruption too. Atlanta don’t no more want to put the airport in Lawrenceville then Lawrenceville want it to be there. So don’t get beyond yourselves. They will more then likely build it very close to the present airport where land is cheap,where there would be less opposition, and there is less traffic.

By Chris

August 2, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this

I know business leaders in Columbus would love the idea of putting the 2nd airport in the Columbus Metropolitan Airport. Columbus’ airport is probably has the largest terminal outside of Atlanta with the exception of Savannah. Columbus also has the 2nd largest corporate base as well as one of the largest military installations in the world, Fort Benning. High-speed rail connecting these two cities would be great.

By jj

August 2, 2007 11:04 AM | Link to this

Dobbins would fit the bill perfectly. As previously mentioned, many other airports share with the military including MCO. Keep in mind, we are talking about a 2nd airport, not a replacement airport. HJ will always be the 1st. Chicago is a prime example. Midway takes the pressure off O’hare, which is what Dobbins could do. The selection of flights would be minimal, so folks would still have to drive to HJ. The idea is to add flights, not necessarily make it easier for people from the northside to get to an airport.

By JJ

August 2, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this

I wish ya’ll would quit bashing Gwinnett County. I have been living in Gwinnett for the last 16 years, and I absolutely love it. I have a nice home, on 1/2 acre, friendly neighbors, great community, shopping, dining, and I’m 5 minutes from Lake Lanier. My child has been educated in Gwinnett County schools and is in the top 10% of her class. We have wonderful recreation, and numerous parks in the Suwanee/Sugar Hill area. I have four parks within two miles of my house and take my dogs to the parks often.

I chose to live and work in Gwinnett, as opposed to DeKalb, Fulton or God forbid Cobb county, and I LOVE it here. I can get anywhere I need to be in less than 15 minutes. I don’t have to drive on the freeways, and my commute to work is 15 miles, and takes less than 25 minutes every day.

By TG

August 2, 2007 11:40 AM | Link to this

JJ: I agree that this would have to be sold to the politicians and to Delta as a secondary (overflow) airport. And in the interest of the local economy (especially in Clayton and on the south side), that HJ would have to remain first. But, if the second airport does not make the entire HJ experience more pleasant then I would pay more money to avoid that mess.
During most weekdays, the parking is non existent, the security lines are obnoxious, lately it seems like they do not have enough gates necessary to load and unload planes, the baggage claim area is a complete disaster….need I go on?? I know that air travel is not supposed to be simple, but it seems that the best part of my travel experience (and I travel by air about every two weeks) is always at the other city’s airport (and that includes Chicago). They say that we are going to run out of capacity soon, my observation is that we already have….PLEASE build a second airport somewhere!

TG

By ITSASMALLWORLDAFTERALL

August 2, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this

Just as there is no commuter rail going to the northern corridors (400/I-85) of metro Atlanta some 30 years too late; it is again another failed attempt of the self-serving, selfish ingrained, idealist folk of the northern suburbs to say; “it’s ok in the indigenous neighborhoods of ‘their back yard, but not mine”. These are the same people who are always complaining about traffic, but are never willing to provide the obvious solution(s) of doing what is rightfully right, put the damn ‘thing’ (the 2nd airport) in Gwinnett. IF IT DOESN’T GO THERE, it will be a travesty anywhere else! Now, is it racist if the authority buys more land nearby the current airport, HJ? You damn skippy it is! A matter fact, it’s called environmental racism! THAT WHAT IT IS! AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, EVERYONE KNOWS ITS RACIST! AND I MAKE NO APPOLGIES FOR IT! And don’t even think about calling me out on the “race card” issue. OWNE UP!

By JL

August 2, 2007 11:52 AM | Link to this

ITSASMALLWORLDAFTERALL:
For many of us RACE doesn’t figure in at all. Some are saying to put it in Cobb in an industrial area in no ones (black, white, hispanic, or other) backyard. Our airport was originally placed where it is now when that was a thriving suburb of Atlanta…white people lived in East Point and Hapeville 40 years ago…..How does race become an issue here???

By jj

August 2, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this

TG

Paying more for what? The airlines have too much invested in HJ to give it up. A 2nd airport would only operate with a limited schedule. More likely other carriers that want to service ATL but only with 1 or 2 flights a day. Primarily point to point service that already exists at HJ. Delta and Airtran are hub and spoke carriers, they need to funnel their traffic thru HJ. What you would get at the 2nd airport are limited flights to other secondary destinations.

By Common Sense

August 2, 2007 12:58 PM | Link to this

We have an airport sitting in Marietta that is not being used since the Dobbins Naval Air Station was done away a few years ago. The landing strips are there (and should be long enough since both C4 Transport planes and fighter jets have used it), the watch tower is there, the landing lights are there, and all you need is the terminal to be built beside it all. It is a 10 minute drive to I-75 at the Marietta loop and the cost should be minimal compared with building something from scratch. Of course when you are dealing with the government and public money, there is no need to use common sense is there?

By GaConservative

August 2, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this

Common Sense,

Common sense does not enter the equation with the fools we have in office. It’s all about who can scratch their backs the best without leaving any marks.

Somehow the pols need to believe, or be made to believe, that Dobbins will help them be re-elected and their off-spring will have an inside track on concessions and jobs. When that happens, the airport will be slated for Dobbins.

Until then, we’ll continue to be lied to and shat upon.

Truth be told, the airport will end up in some podunk town because that’s where the most influential pol lives.

By Kaye

August 2, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this

To commom sense.

You want some common sense you dont want to look at any part of the government for that. They arent allowed to teach that in schools anymore either.

By Lex Luthor

August 2, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this

Yeah, Dobbins (MGE) would work. That’ a huge facility. The one runway (and not much room for a second) could handle all of the anticipated traffic.

Use some Common Sense 5 runways aren’t enough for ATL, do you really think the one runway at MGE would help?

By Nick

August 2, 2007 2:18 PM | Link to this

Bulldoze every crack house, ghetto and housing project south of the airport and put a new one there!

By gman

August 2, 2007 2:44 PM | Link to this

LOL… I live in Lawrenceville and have never seen asian or hispanic gangs in my neck of the woods. But as far as more industrialization? I say no NO NO! Put it further south to somewhat benefit the people that drive 2 and a half hours just to get to Hartsfield.

By Lex Luthor

August 2, 2007 3:07 PM | Link to this

gman,

Put the airport in Macon? Wait they already have one, so does Augusta, Athens, Macon, Savannah, and Columbus, but no one uses them.

By hornet

August 2, 2007 3:23 PM | Link to this

Dobbins. Run Marta up to the air field, add a terminal, buses…. It’s a no brainer folks. And like the previous blogger said (jj) it’s not a replacement, it’s like Midway in Chicago. The state & local politicians can do this. Will they?

By jj

August 2, 2007 3:59 PM | Link to this

Lex

Dobbins only needs one runway to take the pressure off HJ. One run-way would serve 1/5 of what HJ does. Most smaller airports around the country operate with one runway. Many have two, but due to wind direction, can only use one at a time anyway.

The majority of passengers to HJ never leave the airport. Delta and Airtran will continue to add flights to HJ to connect with their system. The 2nd airport would be used by the carriers with a small presence in ATL. This would open up landing slots at HJ. Atl is not a destination, it is a connection.

By Bob

August 2, 2007 5:22 PM | Link to this

Isn’t Fort Mac close to the airport and closing? There is some land neaer the airport that can be expanded to other close neighborhoods if needed.

And I personally would like to see a NEW and much larger Medical College of Georgia where Dobbins used to be. That’s what they are doing at Fitzsimmons, a closed military facility near Denver. And it has all the room to continue to make the University of Colorado Health Sciences one of the top facilities in the country. Medical School, Pharmacy School, Nusing School, Dental School, a Teaching and Research Hospital - ALL at the same location.

They had already been doing that since the early 90s near downtown Denver but were simply running out of room. And what a great place for a new Grady.

By delois

August 2, 2007 5:39 PM | Link to this

Hopefully it will take the next four years to be studied and decided upon so that by then I will no longer be living in Gwinnett or Georgia.

By Steven

August 2, 2007 7:42 PM | Link to this

Dobbins will never be the second airport. It is too close to the flight paths into/out of ATL. As a result, training flights into/out of the base have to follow very strict patterns. In addition, the Cobb County NIMBYS would never let it happen either.

Charlie Brown Airport is way too close to the flight paths into/out of ATL (In fact, practically parallel) to be a safe alternative.

Northeast Georgia Regional up in Winder is a decent possibility, as they do have room to expand and has access to 316 that could be easily upgradeable.

The only way a second airport will be built is if the City of Atlanta has absolutely no involvement in the project what-so-ever. The City has long had a bad reputation outside of the core of the Metro Atlanta area, and as evidenced by the uproar in areas where they took a look at as a site for a second airport back in the 1990s.

Upgrading an existing airport will be cheaper than a new build facility. And it needs to be practical distance from town as well. High-speed rail up to Chattanooga is an overpriced, over-hyped, impractical, and impossible idea. The costs alone would be higher than what it would cost to build a new facility.

By Mike In Woodstock

August 2, 2007 7:49 PM | Link to this

Hey AJC!

When are you going to have a blog about the successful Al-Qaida attack on that bridge up in Minnesota?

By jp

August 2, 2007 11:13 PM | Link to this

When all of Gwinnett’s prperty values crash due overinflated home market and people moving back into the city, they will be begging for an airport. Gwinnett is one of the worst designed cities made in america, just shopping malls and indistinct housing, i cant wait till prefab houses out there start getting foreclosed on, what a miserable, pathetic area.

By c

August 3, 2007 3:44 PM | Link to this

Poor jp. Your posts have no merit if you don’t even know the difference between a county and a city.

By Contradiction

August 3, 2007 3:49 PM | Link to this

JJ-

Whatever you say. You can get anywhere you want in less than 15 minutes though it takes you 25 to get to work?

By ch

August 3, 2007 3:56 PM | Link to this

Why not head to Athens they already fly some commercial flights out of their.

By raul

August 3, 2007 4:47 PM | Link to this

So most of the passengers live north of I-20…so it really makes sense to put a new airport in Macon…even further south…I don’t think so. Dobbins is the natural answer

By Fred Flinstoned

August 4, 2007 12:16 AM | Link to this

How can you even think about a 2nd airport when the one we got now is a mess? As long as white people run the 2nd airport MAYBE? it will be OK. Atlanta is just too big anyway it would be a better idea just to MOVE

By Sandy Springs

August 4, 2007 8:34 AM | Link to this

An airport in Gwinnet sounds great.

Gwinnett county is already the dumping ground for metro Atlantas trash.

So, an airport wouldbe purrrfect. Gwinnet already overbuilds and has no sense of “Smart-growth” afterall, how many malls do u need near i-85??

Goodluck Gwinnett and congratulations!! It’s an Airport ;-)

By Inquirer

August 4, 2007 12:13 PM | Link to this

Lance, if the last time you checked, “Atlanta doubles if not triples Gwinnett in crimes,” then you need to check again. DOJ figures show the crime rate in Gwinnett County and in the City of Atlanta to be about the same.

If, as you say, “The higher populated areas will have larger (sic) crime. There’s nothing anyone can do about it,” then how would you explain that New York City, with nearly 15 million people, thrice Atlanta’s population, has been the safest large city in the United States for nearly a decade, and is among the safest in the whole world?

Finally, what on earth do crime rates have to do with deciding where to put a second airport?

By C R

August 4, 2007 4:04 PM | Link to this

TANNER G is wrong. Marietta is not the place for another airport. The Windy Hill area is already congested with car traffic and cannot accomodate anymore automobile raffic. Gwinnett has Marta which is a good fit to get people into the Airport and not cars.

By fred b.

August 5, 2007 4:03 AM | Link to this

If there ever is going to be a second airport it definitely needs to be somewhere in the northern suburbs. CR, when has MARTA ever been in Gwinnett. The only place the system travels is in Fulton, DeKalb and the city of Atlanta. Wherever they decide to locate a second airport traffic will always be an issue.

By Last American

August 6, 2007 2:32 PM | Link to this

What about Alpharetta

By Chaz

September 2, 2007 5:31 PM | Link to this

Hve You Guys ever heard of Newnan/ It is one of the largest growing suburbs in the metro.Well this is a airport just south of the city(Newnan-Coweta County Municipal Airport)With no devleopment around it EXPAND IT! EXPAND IT!