ACRP Coastal Mega-Regions

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ACRP Coastal Mega-Regions

Client:

Challenge
Aviation planning stands apart from the broader multimodal perspective, making multimodal strategic policy analysis challenging. The National Academies, through an Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP 3-10), are examining the complexities of overcapacity and multimodal issues at major airports in the U.S. East and West Coast Mega-regions.

Initiative
As part of the research team for the ACRP project, “Innovative Approaches to Addressing Aviation Capacity Issues in Coastal Mega-Regions,” RSG has developed new analysis tools for use in the Northeast, by applying “true-origin to true-destination” trip tables. The database helps to explain the relationship, for example, of high-speed rail (HSR) to upstate New York with daily volumes at JFK Airport (JFK), or the impact on LaGuardia Airport (LGA) of the development of a new airport in New Haven.

The ACRP 3-10 report includes:

  • Integration of data sources from New England to Washington, D.C.
  • Examination of alternative HSR policies on airport demand
  • Documented details of flight substitution decisions in Europe
  • Documented system-wide impacts of diversion from air to rail in the Boston–NYC corridor
  • County-to-county aviation trip tables for integration into true multimodal trip tables (including auto)  
  • Proposed detailed mechanisms for the Federal Aviation Administration to encourage local decision-making at airports.


Expected Result
One recommendation to emerge from the project is to expand the analysis of corridor-wide capacity to a multimodal basis by (1) predicting the role of HSR on demand at Northeast corridor airports and (2) providing tools for comprehensive regional approaches in which airports such as LGA, JFK, Newark, and Stewart are considered a “family of airports.”