Edmonton to add third runway, deploying sheer size to build transport hub

BEING Canada's biggest airport by area, Edmonton International plans to use its sheer size to attract non-aeronautical enterprises to its 2,800-hectare (6,918-acre) site and transform it into a major transport hub.


The recently unveiled airport master plan includes a railway station, high-speed rail stop, large areas for more air cargo and its "Port Alberta" scheme to build a major transport hub, reports the Edmonton Journal. The plan also includes provisions for a third runway parallel to the existing main one, but starting a mile (1.5 kilometres) east to tie in with the existing smaller crosswind runway.


"We have gone and looked at our options from a long-range planning perspective on the runway," said airport infrastructure vice president Paul Garbiar.


In the future, most aircraft will approach from the south and take off toward the northwest on the new 11-29 runway.


The expanded air cargo operations will border on the new 11-29 runway, and both areas would get highway interchanges. The airport now serves just over six million passengers a year, but expects that numbers will rise to nine million by 2020.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)