New airport near Tumwater? (Seattle, Tacoma: car rental, apartments, rental)

[jabogitlu]

The best and most realistic option is King County International Airport; however, the powers that be have removed that from the table for reasons that I have never quite figured out.

[NW Crow]

ACTION probably should have begun 10 years ago, but that is water under the bridge. Now the challenge is to get going fairly soon. Will a final decision actually occur in 2023? I doubt it.

I question the mandate to narrow to 2 finalists. Trying to get Commission to do hard work but this looks like a hard choice. If they feel that there is a close 3rd or 4th that should be made known in final document or hearings. It might circle back to other options.

Looking at the site screening report, I get the impression the choice might lean to a new greenfield location. Pierce County Central might be a leading contender on my first / fwiw outsider take.

It is all about criteria weights and whether some reg flags are absolute disqualifications.

Before I saw the list, I thought NE King County might make some big picture sense. But not on the study list for whatever reasons.

They are studying 1-3 runway builds. The chosen site should probably be for 2-3 even if built in phases. Trying for yet another site in 20 years does not seem like a good idea on the surface.

[NW Crow]

Looking at what I'd consider most realistic choices closer to center of region, these are the green light / red light totals from the technical screening process:

Made list
Snohomish SE 19 green - 5 red
Snohomish NW 17 - 3
King SE 18 - 1
Pierce East 13 - 6
Pierce Central 17 - 4

Did not make list
NGField 14 - 6
Auburn 13 - 8
Arlington 13 - 3

Yellows not counted above but can be inferred. They are still important though, not as bad as a red. But go with most greens or fewest reds or something in between?

I didn't score the other sites.

The 2 selections likely to come from 4 of 5 selected sites mentioned above. Unless they pick one of the 2 existing airport semi-finalists as a finalist. The other 2-3 strong green fields probably shouldn't be totally discarded unless the Commission make a compelling case for that.

Of course the criteria have varying importance to different eyes, so I don't know which set of positives / negatives will be judged the weighted best.

[NW Crow]

Having said the above prior, I checked the news and see this on Commission site recommendations: https://www.thecentersquare.com/wash...403d0b3c3.html

They decided to recommend 3 sites not 2 as suggested above (and Paine Field expansion on top of that for regional capacity balancing and / or politics).

2 of the 3 were in my likely 5. Thurston County has 1 of the 3 selections.

I still sorta doubt Thurston County gets it for distance from Seattle reasons but time will tell. A reshuffling of commercial ops out of more central airport locations could make any of the South Sound locations seem more reasonable. Distance to Interstate might make the Thurston County location appealing. If logistic operations serve Seattle and Portland, then it might be even more appealing. Airspace regulations & preferences may make Thurston more likely. Legislative officials wanting local flights in / out may make Thurston more likely.

(I lived close to the Thurston site in past, but not now.)

Carry on.

[NW Crow]

Thurston Central scored 14 green, 4 red.

[texasdiver]

Two south sound locations just doesn't make any sense in my mind. What is the population north of Seattle? More than a million. Planes are actually getting quieter and quieter over time as they become more efficient. We should be able to build an airport in the mid-21st century within an urban area. By the time such an airport is finally completed most of the existing planes in the air will be retired and we will be dealing with new fleets of quieter and more efficient ones.

Unless I miss my guess it will eventually be Paine Field expansion after they exhaust every other possible alternative.

[grega94]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Two south sound locations just doesn't make any sense in my mind. What is the population north of Seattle? More than a million. Planes are actually getting quieter and quieter over time as they become more efficient. We should be able to build an airport in the mid-21st century within an urban area. By the time such an airport is finally completed most of the existing planes in the air will be retired and we will be dealing with new fleets of quieter and more efficient ones.

Unless I miss my guess it will eventually be Paine Field expansion after they exhaust every other possible alternative.

Well if we include the whole CSA there are more people in the south than the north.

North Sound (Island, Skagit, Snohomish)
1,051,668 people | 4,026 sq mi (261/sq mi)

King County
2,252,305 people | 2,116 (1064/sq mi)

South Sound (Pierce, Kitsap, Thurston, Mason, Lewis)
1,650,012 people | 6,149 sq mi (268/ sq mi)

That being said out of all the locations provided, Paine Field makes the most logistical sense, most of the other locations are just to far away from the cities and have no nearby freeways and the Paine Field location complements SeaTac's location pretty nicely.


Source: https://app.traveltime.com/search/0-...1-lat=47.44524

[texasdiver]

A quick bit of research tells me that aircraft noise in current planes has been reduced by over 75% from those made in the 1970s. And projections are that jet noise can be reduced at least another 80% by the use of new composite materials in new engines. Which would be whisper quiet compared to old planes.

We keep fighting the old battles. But it seems to me modern long-distance travel in the latter half of the 21st century should be concentrated more on making it faster, more convenient, and quieter. Rather than pushing new airports further and further out into the rural fringes of cities where they are dozens of miles or more away from population centers. Not just in Puget Sound but everywhere.

What we should be demanding is that new airports in urban areas only accommodate the quietest and most modern passenger airplanes. And exile noisy freight traffic on older planes out to more rural areas. Maybe build separate freight airports that don't need passenger terminals and as much highway/transit access out in more rural areas and reserve urban airports for passenger travel.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

A quick bit of research tells me that aircraft noise in current planes has been reduced by over 75% from those made in the 1970s. And projections are that jet noise can be reduced at least another 80% by the use of new composite materials in new engines. Which would be whisper quiet compared to old planes.

We keep fighting the old battles. But it seems to me modern long-distance travel in the latter half of the 21st century should be concentrated more on making it faster, more convenient, and quieter. Rather than pushing new airports further and further out into the rural fringes of cities where they are dozens of miles or more away from population centers. Not just in Puget Sound but everywhere.

What we should be demanding is that new airports in urban areas only accommodate the quietest and most modern passenger airplanes. And exile noisy freight traffic on older planes out to more rural areas. Maybe build separate freight airports that don't need passenger terminals and as much highway/transit access out in more rural areas and reserve urban airports for passenger travel.

Definitely a good thought, but harder to enforce. If only new jets were allowed the airlines would pull out. They depend on passenger loads as it relates to their current fleets. Compare it to your car. You want a new one but your current one runs fine. So you delay the purchase. Airlines do the same. Adding restrictions would cause three issues. One, increased fares passed on to consumers. Two, many airlines into bankruptcy or worse, extinction. Third, less options for consumers.

[Glenview94602]

The South Sound needs more options. North Snohomish County and Skagit County can either use BLI in Bellingham or Paine Field in Everett if they don't want to go to Seatac. I used to live in Stanwood and Paine is not far. BLI would have been an option but we moved before they increased service there.

Tacoma and Olympia don't really have any reliever options and PDX is too far away.