CHAPTER IV NEXT STEPS The forecasts summarized in this report provide a basis for analyzing the capacity characteristics of expansion plans proposed for existing airports and plans for new airports in the Washington-Baltimore Region. They also show clearly that major expansion of capacities should be planned now, both for commercial airports and for general aviation airports. Further analyses of airport access and airport environmental problems, building on those already begun, are needed to supplement the thorough analysis of capacities and demands now available. Only then can a comprehensive airport plan be developed for the Washington-Baltimore Region in coordination with the comprehensive regional development planning now in process. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Government has included these additional tasks in its future work program. 27-254 O 70 pt. 1---10 Mr. SCHEIBER. This latest study is important to the policymakers concerned with the provision and impact of air facilities in the Washington metropolitan area, because it provides an analytical basis on which to evaluate proposals for the elimination, addition, or expansion of airport facilities. The study projects future air travel demands for the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas, based on various assumptions as to the future role of Washington National Airport. It then compares these demands with presently available capacities in order to indicate the expansion in airport capacities that would be needed to satisfy projected demand. Some significant findings of this part of the study are as follows: 1. If Washington National Airport were closed completely, expansion would be required at Friendship and Dulles International Airports shortly after 1970, in order to accommodate the flights that would be diverted from Washington National Airport. 2. If Washington National Airport were kept open, but under restricted operating conditions as it now is, expansion would be required at Friendship and Dulles shortly after 1985. 3. Over the long run, a diversion of airline passengers to new, competing modes can be anticipated. These modes are: (a) high speed trains; and (b) vertical and short takeoff and landing craft (V/ STOL). However, a major amount of such diversion is not anticipated until after 1970. Hence, if Washington National Airport were closed, the expansion requirements of Friendship and Dulles would not be significantly reduced by such diversion until after 1980. The study also examines the future demand for general aviation airports in the two metropolitan areas. General aviation refers to the smaller, private, nonscheduled airplanes that are used primarily for pleasure, business, and instructional flying. At the present time, general aviation activity occurs at all three of the carrier airports, Washington National, Dulles, and Friendship, and at all of the so-called general aviation airports in the area. To the extent that additional general aviation airports are provided, the three carrier airports could be relieved of a part of their general aviation traffic volume. It is for this reason that the general aviation portion of the study is germane to the question of Washington National Airport's future. Some significant findings of this part of the study are as follows: 1. The demand for general aviation facilities in the Washington Metropolitan area will grow rapidly, not only because the demand is growing nationally, but also because the Washington metropolitan economy, which is heavily oriented toward business, management, and government, will particularly attract this kind of activity. 2. The number of general aviation aircraft owners residing in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas is projected to grow from 1,461 in 1967 to 3,200 by 1975, and 8,000 by 1990. 3. The maximum, combined, current capacity of all general aviation airports in the two metropolitan areas is about 3,870,000 operations— that is, takeoffs and landings-per year. 4. This combined capacity will be exceeded by the total number of forecast operations sometime between 1975 and 1980. And by 1990, total general aviation demand is projected to be twice the currently available capacity. 5. These projections underscore the need for providing additional general aviation capacity in the two metropolitan areas. Moreover, if general aviation activity is restricted at Friendship or Dulles International Airports, or if it is restricted further than it now is at Washington National Airport, the additional capacity at general aviation airports will be needed sooner. At its meeting of November 14, 1968, COG's board of directors expressed its concern over the problems associated with the conditions prevailing at Washington National Airport by endorsing a resolution introduced in the Maryland General Assembly by Delegate Charles A. Doctor of Montgomery County. The resolution, as endorsed by the COG board, requested the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, “*** immediately to take such steps as may be necessary to transfer a large part of the airline traffic from Washington National Airport to Dulles International Airport and Friendship International Airport in order to alleviate the dangerous, overcrowded, and noisy condition at Washington National Airport and its environs." Prior to its endorsement by COG, the resolution was endorsed by four of COG's participating local governments: Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties in Virginia; and Montgomery County in Maryland. One of the advantages of a comprehensive metropolitan planning program, such as that conducted by COG, is that the planning within one functional area, such as highways, transit, air transportation, land use, or air pollution, can be developed with due regard for its implications in other functional areas. For example, COG and its affiliated transportation planning board have within the past week authorized their staff to seek funds for a study designed to improve short-range ground access to the three carrier airports. Because it is being conducted within this COG/TPB organizational context, the study, which is to be wholly funded by the Department of Transportation, will be carefully related to other shortrange as well as long-range planning for air and ground transportation planning and land use plannig. The coucil of governments in cooperation with all affected governments and agencies hopes to continue its metropolitan air transportation planning process in order to develop a metropolitan air facilities system plan that will: (a) Be responsive to the needs of both carrier and general aviation. (b) Encourage the wholesome growth of the metropolitan economy. (c) Be compatible with the environmental amenities of the Washington metropolitan area as a place to live. Unfortunately, the availability of funds for this part of COG's planning program is severely limited. Regular, comprehensive planning grants available from HUD, the so-called 701 planning assistance program, are not adequate for this type of planning. It is our hope that the Congress will explore the possibility of providing the Federal Aviation Administration with a funding base out of which it could make grants available to metropolitan planning agencies for cooperative metropolitan airport system planning. In the field of metropolitan ground transportation, the highway trust fund has provided an effective source of support for metropolitan transportation planning as well as construction. If a national airport's trust fund were to be established, a small portion of this fund could be similarly earmarked for cooperative metropolitan airport system planning as a part of the comprehensive metropolitan planning process. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Did you see or hear the statement submitted by the National Capital Planning Commission? Mr. SCHEIBER. I am sorry I was not here this morning to hear it. The CHAIRMAN. In that statement they discuss regional cooperation of airports; that is, airport planning, and then airport operation. I understand that you really have not had the money to do a really comprehensive planning study of air transportation, but have you considered what type, if any, mechanism might be available to really tie in the airports to make certain that they cooperate with each other, such as your Metropolitan Transit Authority here, or say Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission? Have you done any thinking or planning about that? Mr. SCHEIBER. We are aware of various proposals for special metropolitan aviation agencies and other proposals under which all of the airports in the region might be brought under single ownership and control. However, to this point we have not yet developed an organizational position on the matter. The CHAIRMAN. Have you been able to give it much thought or have you not reached that step yet? Mr. SCHEIBER. I would prefer not to comment on that yet since our board has not had a chance to review that in depth. The CHAIRMAN. Working out the machinery for cooperation in an effective working relationship between your various airport authorities would be one problem, would it not? Mr. SCHEIBER. It certainly would since Dulles and National are under Federal control whereas general aviation are under private or local control. We will have to work toward cooperation even under the existing conditions and the ownership and control would have to come later. The CHAIRMAN. What is the role that Washington National Airport should play in the future of regional air transportation? Mr. SCHEIBER. In November of 1968 our board of directors endorsed a resolution developed by Delegate Charles Doctor of Montgomery County which has been submitted for the consideration of the Maryland General Assembly. That resolution indicated our belief that as rapidly as possible flights should be diverted from Washington National so that the present dangerous, overcrowded, and noisy conditions prevailing in and around that airport could be alleviated without delay. We have taken the position that they should be diverted to either Friendship or Dulles, whichever would be most convenient in view of the flight scheduling question. The CHAIRMAN. Do you endorse the regional concept of air transportation in your statement? Mr. SCHEIBER. Yes; we most certainly do. Mr. SCHEIBER. Yes, we do, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Scheiber. We appreciate the effort you have made to be with us. We will certainly try to help with the possibility of seeing that the FAA cannot come up with some grants, or a funding situation, to help regional cooperative metropolitan planning agencies working in a metropolitan situation. The deeper we get into this hearing, the more I see that is necessary. Mr. SCHEIBER. Thank you very much. The CHAIRMAN. Prof. Dorn C. McGrath, Jr., chairman, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Government and Business Administration, the George Washington University. We appreciate your trouble in arranging to be with us and in preparing your statement. We would be delighted to hear from you. STATEMENT OF DORN C. McGRATH, JR., CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING, SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C. Mr. McGRATH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to testify here today. I would like to comment on three aspects of the airports serving Greater Washington: The regional nature of these airports as a system of facilities; the problem of airport access; and the problem of environmental impact implicit in airport planning and operation. It is important to consider these aspects together, because the problems of airport access and environmental impact have important implications for maintaining the viability of the regional airport system. There can be little doubt as to the importance of the three major airports-Dulles, Friendship, and Washington National-to the Washington metropolitan region and its hinterland. Washington National Airport has been among the busiest commercial airports in the entire country. Flight operations at both Dulles and Friendship Airports have been growing steadily. Operations at the Washington airports, Dulles and National, accounted for the sixth largest volume of enplaned passengers in the United States in 1966. Projected passenger traffic demand for the three-airport system indicates a total of 14,480,000 enplanements, which would rank the Washington-Baltimore system fifth in the Nation by 1975. Together, the three major airports of the Baltimore-Washington area are a fundamental resource for regional growth and development. They offer the potential for the region to enlarge its already significant role as a burgeoning center for world travel required by the functions of government. But the two cities have the additional advantage of an airport system with capacity to accommodate its projected growth in aviation more easily than any other east coast metropolitan region. This advantage results from the fact that the Washington-Baltimore region |