re: The Atlantic: Why are we spending $1 billion new NOLA airport b/c it will sink into Ocean

Dude. I have waited 20+ minutes multiple times for bags at MSY. It’s one of the worst in the country. I can’t wait for the new airport.

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Dude. I have waited 20+ minutes multiple times for bags at MSY. It’s one of the worst in the country. I can’t wait for the new airport.

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Next time fly first class and you won't have to wait so long.

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Crazy how there is federal money available for rail, yet our state government keeps turning it down.

isn't that because the state can't come up with the matching funds? or am i thinking of something else

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You are. OPERATING COSTS/SUBSIDIES.

You pay matching funds for a highway, or an airport, and it's built. Highways require a little state maintenance-- cutting the grass, replacing light bulbs, repaving every so often. Airports are operated by a governmental authority or entity and usually MAKE money.

Rail service, from day one, needs to be operated-- fuel for trains, salaries for on-board drivers & security, train car and track maintenance, etc. Fare box revenue from passengers almost NEVER even covers just that cost of OPERATION of such systems; it must be highly subsidized on an annual basis.

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a world in which airports may be nearing extinction.

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Meet the professor:

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It's harder to attract more airlines. etc.

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We are not going to become a hub, the existing airport serves its purpose, and the new one has fewer gates, no access and is going to not work well at all.

The only thing the new one does is stops the 7 passengers a year that change flights with a different carrier on a different concourse from having to go through security again. This new airport is behind schedule, filled with cost over runs and needs a lot of new ancillary infrastructure.

Blows my mind that access to and from I-10 wasn't designed and built to match the a/p construction schedule and opening date.

Getting in and out will be a mess while the current plans for that are finalized, funded and roads constructed over the next three to five years or so.

Btw, flew into MSY Tuesday on SW my bags were waiting when I got to baggage claim. Not always like that, but most of the time.

Big projects funded by the government are a great way for politicans to steal money. And because he took down the statues the Mitch Landrieu Airport Terminal

Here's the synopsis of his End of Airports book:

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In The End of Airports, Christopher Schaberg suggests that even as the epoch of flight approaches a threshold of banality, there are still mysteries to be unraveled around our aircraft and airfields. Drawing from his own experiences working at an airport, as well as interpreting these spaces from the perspective of a cultural critic, Schaberg explores the secret lives of jet bridges, seating areas, concourses, and tarmac vehicles, showing how the ordinary objects of flight call for wonder and inquiry. The End of Airports is not an obituary--it's more like an ode to terminals in the digital age.

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author of The End of Airports

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Oh yeah I'm sure he's worth listening to

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The sources of silt are gone, even if the rivers are allowed to meander freely, the silt load from dams etc up stream has been reduced too much to stop the land loss down here.

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Let me challenge this, a bit.

The Atchafalaya Basin is filling in with silt, and is even building a bird's foot delta at its mouth. It's the only growing part of the Louisiana Coastline. There is usable silt quantity coming down the river once it has a chance to actually meander.