Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?
Like Ceuta?
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Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
71–80 of 121 posts
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Seattle, we built the light rail down the middle of a main roadway. The train has to stop for red lights to let cars through. It's so backwards, it's ridiculous. Always fun when the train driver notices it late and slams on the brakes.
Light rail with no separation down main roads exists in a lot of places (including San Francisco) as the right of way is already available. In Redwood City there's a freight line that runs down the middle of a residential street with zero grade separation or fencing or anything else. You can drive over it if there's no train on it. Unsurprisingly it's a poor neighborhood.
Also the Amtrak line right down Embarcadero in Oakland that runs right down the middle of the road in the traffic line. I often think of a certain scene in Inception when I see that.
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?
Spain ceded Gibraltar in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It wasn't stolen. Besides which, Spain isn't exactly innocent when it comes to "stealing a portion of a country and claiming it as theirs".
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Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#74My understanding is it is legal for planes in Alaska to just land on a road. They have relatively few roads and many places are only accessible via plane, boat or some other alternative to cars (like dog sled) for at least part of the year. They have about six times as many pilots per capita as the rest of the US. Some of their little towns have amazingly minimal airport amenities and crudely constructed landing stri…
Video demonstration of merging into traffic after a gas station pit stop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgQIcK881es
That's a very specific "class" of aircraft. STOL. Short take off and landing. It's popular in the back country though.
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
This doesn't seem like that much of a burden to endure. There are many many places in the USA where vehicular traffic must defer to rail traffic at level crossings. Which can easily occur more often than 30x per week (30 number is from the article). At some crossings it's not unusual to have a slow moving freight train take 15 minutes or more. How long is the road crossed for each plane? I'd expect 5 or 10 minutes ma…
> This doesn't seem like that much of a burden to endure. The road in Gibraltar is a main thoroughfare and I believe the only way to get to the Spanish border. Imagine a rail crossing going through the 101 in SF.
Considering Gibraltar has a grand total of 34,000 residents, it’s more similar to a rail crossing splitting Palo Alto. Which is the case. Similarly, probably as many people a day use the Fremont drawbridge in Seattle, which yields to boat traffic. I think this class of example is why people would be surprised so few cars would sometimes block air traffic.
Also the 101 has traffic lights in SF, when the freeway turns into Van Ness. If Van Ness had a rail crossing, I’d expect cars to wait on trains.
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#76A tunnel is under construction: https://www.reachextra.com/gibraltar-airport-tunnel/
For the cars or the planes?
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Seattle, we built the light rail down the middle of a main roadway. The train has to stop for red lights to let cars through. It's so backwards, it's ridiculous. Always fun when the train driver notices it late and slams on the brakes.
Light rail with no separation down main roads exists in a lot of places (including San Francisco) as the right of way is already available. In Redwood City there's a freight line that runs down the middle of a residential street with zero grade separation or fencing or anything else. You can drive over it if there's no train on it. Unsurprisingly it's a poor neighborhood.
[deleted]
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?
Like Ceuta?
Not only is that a tu quoque fallacy but it also fails to take into account that both Ceuta and Melilla are integral parts of Spain and have been since the 16th century, centuries prior to Morocco's independence from France in 1956, whereas Gibraltar, being a British Overseas Territory, is not and never has been part of the United Kingdom.
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Almost as bad as a different country claim stealing a portion of your country and claiming it as theirs?
Spain ceded Gibraltar in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It wasn't stolen. Besides which, Spain isn't exactly innocent when it comes to "stealing a portion of a country and claiming it as theirs".
Spain disputes that the land the airport is on was covered by the Treaty of Utrecht.
Re: Gibraltar, world’s only airport runway intersecting a road
#80Sometime around 1980 I flew to Portland in a Cessna 172 to visit my family. I landed at Troutdale because who wants to deal with the traffic at PDX?
I'd called my mom from my refueling stop to give her an ETA and where to meet me. She parked her car on the wrong side of the runway, but why would that stop anyone?
As I taxied to the tiedown, I heard on the radio "Cessna 543 Whiskey Zulu, go around, woman crossing the runway."