FIGHTS ON THE AIRFRONT

After four years of lawsuits, Philadelphia has agreed to pay millions of dollars every year to an airport neighbor that is a kind of  Paradise-Lost-to-Airport Noise. The township of Tinicum is south of PHL. Funds will go to it, the county in which it lies, and the local school district. A $6.4 billion Capacity Enhancement Program has FAA approval, now ready to go.

Immediately to the east of PHL is the mouth of the Delaware River as it leaves South Philadelphia and numerous industrial scars of the 20^th century to flow into the vast marine beauty of its large estuary.  To the west  of the airport is Amtrak’s NE Corridor (but no station, only a special $8 fare commuter rail shuttle in Center City run by local transit agency SEPTA).

Aircraft noise from flights to and from Philadelphia's main airport have deprived Tinicum of waterfront quiet.

PHL ranks high in the national aviation grid, with passenger traffic of almost 38 million last year. That puts it ahead of LaGuardia and Newark but trailing JFK with its 50 million last year.  PHL needs to grow, and a new ground transportation center is planned astride the Amtrak corridor. With its location roughly midway between New York and Baltimore -Washington, PHL is also nicely located for trans-Atlantic traffic going on to most of the Americas.  In other words, PHL is real estate with value.  Airport, City and Township lawyers have come to terms to build.

Curiously, Tinicum was first settled by Swedes in 1643. It was occupied by the Dutch in 1655 and ultimately by the British in 1664. Most people consider it to be part of the United States, but Governor Printz still looms large at City Hall and in a riverfront park.

Airport-Airfront Conflicts

Conflicts over rights and benefits in the struggle to balance regional need for a large airport and the degraded quality of life for nearby residents are common. PHL and Tinicum are a case in point.

Tinicum has memories and reminders of its quieter past, tucked away far from the bustle and hustle of the City of Brotherly Love, whose Mail Line goes to the northwest, not southwest. Once sleepy, Tinicum was shaken up decades ago by growing air traffic.

Today it has about 5,000 residents, and the township  will soon get $5 million for airport land takings, $1 million per year for twenty years, and share $1.86 million per year with the County and local School District. It is a complicated formula, but a quick look says Tinicum will get $4000 per person per year to compensate for the pervasive drone of aircraft landings and takeoffs, millions of tons of GHG and commercial development encroachment.

Jobs are a political priority. Prospects for lots of airport and airfront jobs are good. There is an APM spine in the PHL master plan with a branch to the planned multi-modal hub. In future years, it could be extended to serve future development in Philadelphia. Should it also go to Tinicum?

A more promising option would be an ATN to multiple landside locations flexibly designed as a network with non-stop taxi-like service, not stop-go linear rail.  It is well worth study, especially if Swedish planning expertise emerging from studies of efficient development options around Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport are brought to bear.