Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

[DShoost88]

I came up with a plan of my own for a South Florida "Super Port" and Wave network (among other improvements). The link is below with details... I'd love to hear everyone's reactions to it.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...01751,0.176811

Thank you.

[ftlauddude]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

I came up with a plan of my own for a South Florida "Super Port" and Wave network (among other improvements). The link is below with details... I'd love to hear everyone's reactions to it.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...01751,0.176811

Thank you.

DShoost88, great start! The Wave should def reach the beach but I think it should go along off Sunrise as well to reah No FLL Bch. What I've seen of the plan is that The Wave would reach SE 17th St by the General Hospital. The FEC Tri-rail would stop @ FLL and The SunPort will connect FLL with PE. The SunPort will do a loop around all terminals and the go to the cruise passenger terminals.

The connection of FEC Tri-rail and FLL is where the future MIC will be. Unfortunately, we're light years away from that happening.

[skyscraperhighrise]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

I came up with a plan of my own for a South Florida "Super Port" and Wave network (among other improvements). The link is below with details... I'd love to hear everyone's reactions to it.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...01751,0.176811

Thank you.

great start, I Enjoy this.

[CalleOchoGringo]

In before Spells lack of funding speech.

[ftlauddude]

U.S. 1 traffic shift near Fort Lauderdale airport looming

By Michael Turnbell, Sun Sentinel
4:47 p.m. EDT, September 15, 2012

U.S. 1 is about to resemble an obstacle course near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport for much of the next year.

Sometime in the next few weeks, northbound U.S. 1 traffic will shift east to a temporary roadway just north of Griffin Road. Southbound traffic will make a similar shift east after that.

Airport officials say they're not able to pinpoint an exact date for the change because other construction tasks have to be completed first.

While all three lanes in each direction will remain open during the shift, the speed limit in the construction zone will drop from 50 mph to 40 mph until June 2013.

Traffic is being diverted to allow for construction of several tunnels over U.S. 1, Perimeter Road and the Florida East Coast Railway. The tunnel structures will support a new airport runway and taxiways that will slope six stories high.

At the same time northbound U.S. 1 traffic is shifted, Taylor Road, a short east-west road running from U.S. 1 to Northeast Seventh Avenue, will close permanently. A new road — Northeast 10th Street — will extend east of U.S. 1 opposite Griffin and continue to Northeast 7th Avenue.

For the past several months, drivers have to contend with a series of lane closures and detours because of the runway construction and a nearby, but separate, project to build an overpass on Eller Drive.

"At least they could provide half-way decent directional signage," said Dania Beach Mayor Pat Flury. "I live here, I've been here for a long time. I can't imagine what happens to poor tourists."

In July, the ramps from northbound U.S. 1 to I-595 and from the airport to southbound U.S. 1 closed and won't reopen until late 2013 or early 2014.

Northbound U.S. 1 drivers must now head west on Griffin Road, then take I-95 north to I-595. Drivers leaving the airport who want to go south on U.S. 1 must now either head north on U.S. 1 and make a U-turn at Southeast 30th Street or take I-595 to I-95 south.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...,6155817.story


New Fort Lauderdale airport runway being built rock by rock

By Brittany Wallman and Michael Turnbell, Sun Sentinel
3:42 a.m. EDT, September 7, 2012

From the top of a 19-foot limestone hill that didn't exist a few months ago, it's hard to deny the wow factor.

It doesn't look like an airport runway yet, but two years from now, that's what the limestone hill will be, a runway impossible to miss, sloping six stories into the sky.

Between now and then, several million tons of crushed limestone will roll here on the Florida East Coast Railway and inside dump trucks, past graffiti-tagged warehouses, backyard swingsets, a white horse tied to a tree, hidden garbage and weeds. It is coming here from Medley, in northwest Miami-Dade, where a quarry is creating just the right size rocks for the runway.

Construction overseers and officials from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport put their project on exhibit to the media Thursday, clearly proud and awed of what can be done with $791 million and some rocks.

"It's a pretty impressive site,'' said FEC Vice President Bob Ledoux, remembering his first visit to the hill. "I was like, 'Man. ... Man!'

"I was here when this was all trees,'' said airport spokesman Greg Meyer. "It was all Australian pines.''

When complete, the limestone rocks and their overlying asphalt will support airplanes every few minutes, carrying millions of passengers a year, adding a second "main'' runway for commercial air traffic.

Not 24/7, but close

Working on a tight deadline, construction workers arrive every day but Sunday at 6 a.m., and the second shift leaves around 4 a.m., said Mauricio Gonzalez, director of construction for Odebrecht, the airport's runway builder.

They get their fill of rocks, loading limestone from CEMEX's quarry onto 80-car railroad trains, twice daily, or into 130 dump trucks, five or six times a day.

They'll drive the rock-filled dump trucks down the airport's old runway, to the hill, pull the stone out with front-end loaders, spread it out with bulldozers and stamp it down with rollers.

The hill will be built up to 85 feet so the heavy rock can weigh down what's underneath. After it's settled enough to please the engineers, it'll be scraped down to its 65-foot height, 3,000 feet wide.

The runway will slope upwards from its western end at the airport to its peak east of U.S. 1. Drivers on the highway will be tunneled beneath it, and so will the FEC trains, a mammoth public works feat.

Veer east

Within the next 30 days, drivers on U.S. 1 near the airport will shift to a temporary roadway to the east while the tunnel structure is built over the existing U.S. 1, Perimeter Road and the FEC tracks.

Piles for it are being driven adjacent to U.S. 1 and the railroad tracks just north of Griffin Road. Officials say it will take the rest of the year to drive the 2,600 piles – reinforced concrete about two-by-two feet wide and an average length of 76 feet – into the ground.

The northbound lanes will shift first, just north of Griffin Road, followed by the southbound lanes.

All three lanes in each direction will remain open but the speed limit will reduced to 40 mph.

Traffic is scheduled to shift back through the tunnels in June 2013.

Traffic is further complicated in the area because the ramp from northbound U.S. 1 to I-595 is closed until next summer while the Eller Drive overpass from I-595 to Port Everglades is constructed. The South Perimeter Road entrance off Griffin Road also is closed until the new runway is completed.

But why?

The runway will be built by June 2014 and is expected to open to its first airplane in September that year.

The payoff for air passengers is in avoiding delays on the tarmac, said Meyer and community outreach coordinator Allan Siegel.

The Federal Aviation Administration predicted eventual delays of 22 minutes if the runway weren't built, Siegel said. They now average five or six minutes.

A delay at this airport would ripple through the entire national aviation system, Meyer said, throwing other airports off schedule. That's how important this runway is, he said.

Being present for its construction is a treat.

Meyer marveled at the sprawling rock quarry, birthplace for the runway limestone, scene of giant heaps of rock in every direction. He hadn't seen it before, and may not see it again.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world,'' he said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...,1409689.story

[ftlauddude]

International terminal at Fort Lauderdale airport undergoing major expansion

By Ken Kaye, Staff Writer
5:57 p.m. EDT, September 24, 2012

Get ready for some more construction dust at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Next month, passengers will see the first signs of a six-year, $450 million expansion of the airport's Terminal 4, intended to foster international traffic growth and improve service.

"We're trying to enhance the overall passenger experience in Terminal 4, because when we're busy, we're really crowded," airport spokesman Greg Meyer said Monday. "On heavy traffic days, lines go out the door."

When completed in 2018, the terminal will double in size, add four gates – for a total of 14 – and provide double the number of restrooms, as well as new restaurants and concessions, said Steven Wiesner, director of airport expansion for the Broward County Aviation Department.

There will be a bridge to Terminal 3, allowing international passengers to more easily make connecting flights by going through airport security only once. And it will have a larger security checkpoint, with more lanes.

Also, a new corridor is to be completed by next year, allowing international passengers to proceed directly to the Customs area, said Marc Gambrill, the aviation department's director of capital improvement.

County officials hope the improved terminal will entice more airlines to fly to international destinations – and possibly lure more international airlines to fly into Fort Lauderdale. As it is, the airport's international growth has been steady over the past six years, increasing from 2.3 million passengers in 2006 to 3.6 million passengers in 2011.

Currently, Terminal 4 houses Spirit, Avianca, Condor, Caribbean Airlines and Airline Brokers Co. charters to Cuba. There are six small restaurants outside the security area, but not much seating area. So passengers waiting for flights are often forced to sit on the floor.

All of the airport's four terminals are sorely in need of modernization, airport officials said. Yet, while Terminals 1, 2, and 3 are being refurbished under a separate $100 million project, Terminal 4 must be redesigned and all but rebuilt.

The reason: Its Concourse H juts out into the area where taxiways and ramp areas are to be built for the new south runway, currently under construction. That project is to be completed in September 2014 and cost $1.24 billion, including the upgrades to Terminal 4.

"Terminal 4 is definitely getting the biggest makeover, because it's the most out of date," Meyer said. "We're going to convert it from the 1980s into a modern terminal."

Wiesner said the reason the project is expected to take up to six years is because much of the work will have to be done at night to avoid passenger disruptions.

"We've got to continue to operate a very busy facility," he said.

And although both the airlines and the Broward County Commission approved the Terminal 4 expansion earlier this year, design work still must be completed, Wiesner said. Until that's done, he couldn't say exactly how many new restaurants and concessions will be included.

"It will be a significant increase in what we currently have," he said.

By 2017, a new concourse is to be constructed on Terminal 4's west side. By 2018, a new branch of the terminal is to be constructed on its east side, Wiesner said. He added that 12 of the gates will be able to handle both domestic and international flights.

Until the current Concourse H is shut down, it will be modernized with new bathrooms, concessions, carpeting and improved lighting at a cost of about $1 million.

Meyer noted all the improvements will be paid for with federal grants and airport user fees.

Behind-the-scenes work will start in October on the terminal's restaurants. By early next year, they are to be demolished and concessions are to be moved to the baggage claim area on the ground level, Meyer said.

"The concession service won't be as robust, but it still will accommodate passengers in terms of what they need to eat and drink," he said.

kkaye@tribune.com or 954-572-2085.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...0,373756.story

[ftlauddude]

Food Network Kitchen Restaurant Opens At Fort Lauderdale Airport

By SUZETTE LABOY 11/26/12 09:44 AM ET EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Food Network is getting into the restaurant business in a location not always associated with good food: An airport.

The channel has opened its first Food Network Kitchen at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in South Florida in the JetBlue terminal.

"The dynamic of food and travel has changed," said Sergei Kuharsky, general manager of Food Network's new business enterprises. "You used to never go in and think about eating at an airport."

Now, with passengers arriving early to get through security and limited options for in-flight food, there's a market for airport dining. "We are responding to that opportunity," Kuharsky said.

The Food Network Kitchen is the only eatery serving hot food at the JetBlue concourse, but the network's brand is a big attention-getter.

"I walked by and I said `Oh wow, look at that. Food Network restaurant.' So I came in," said Richard Wierzbicki of Austin, Texas. "And I would look for it again because I thought the sandwich was really good."

Since opening Nov. 8, the Food Network Kitchen has averaged 1,500 customers a day.

"Airport locations are very busy, but this one especially," said Jean-Pierre Turgot, general manager for Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services, which partnered with the Food Network to provide chef-inspired meals at the airport and is also a partner in Food Network-branded food sold at concession stands and stadiums. "It's the highest revenue producer at the airport."

There are no waiters, so customers sit at tables after ordering at the counter or they can get takeout food, either made to order or readymade items like sandwiches and salads.

The menu promises organic and sustainable ingredients and offers dishes with connections to local ingredients and regional culture, such as a Florida shrimp po'boy ($13) and a salmon burger with Key lime mayo ($14).

South Florida's Latin culture is reflected in items such as the Cuban breakfast burrito ($8) and a black beans and rice burger with "mojo mayo" ($12). Also on the menu: fried pickles with Key lime mayo ($6); sweet potato fries with Key lime tartar sauce ($5); and a Cuban sandwich ($12) with cafe con leche mayo pressed on a ciabatta roll.

Wait times can back up when flights arrive and the airport gets busy, so it's best to arrive early if you plan to sit down, as Liz Lamoureux did before flying back home to San Antonio, Texas.

"On our way here, I was saying we wanted to get here early to sit down for a drink," she said as she nibbled on edamame and sipped on the house pinot grigio.

Beverages range from espresso to entwine, the Food Network's wine brand, to locally-inspired cocktails like Lansky's Run, named for the Prohibition-era gangster Meyer Lansky.

The design of the restaurant resembles the cable network's test kitchen: a butcher block bar counter, subway tiling, stainless steel surfaces and pots and pans hanging in a row – only here, they hang behind a cash register.

The network's logo is plastered on everything from to-go boxes to brown paper bags filled with jelly beans and chocolate-covered pretzels. Most of the TVs are tuned to the Food Network, though some show sports or news. There are also some fun facts on display: A poster near the cash register details local ingredients used in the meals, while paper placemats explain how to filet a fish and describe different cuts of beef.

"We really wanted to bring our culinary expertise to the forefront and bring the brand to life," Food Network's Kuharsky said. "I think people are going to be drawn to the brand, but it also comes down to taste."

But while the network has already put its name on consumer products like frying pans and candles, along with its concession stand and stadium food, serving quality food at an airport restaurant presents different challenges.

"Branding on the front lines has the most exposure and is different than putting your name on a logo," said Chris Tripoli, president of A'la Carte Foodservice Consulting Group, who has worked on food concepts in airports across the country. "Now that you have exposed yourself to the end user, your reputation, that Food Network brand, is going to be judged on the temperature of the green beans that day or by every bite of the sandwich."

Tripoli added that Food Network staffers on the restaurant's front lines "know their brand is only going to be as good as their last meal."

The Food Network and Delaware North Companies plan to open more outlets in the spring at the busy JetBlue terminal. Another Food Network Kitchen is scheduled to open at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by the end of 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...miami&ir=Miami

[ftlauddude]

Concrete statistics: A look at new runway by the numbers

By Ken Kaye, Staff writer
4:04 a.m. EST, November 26, 2012

By the end of next month, workers should complete driving giant stalks of concrete into the ground, a critical phase of constructing a new runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

The concrete piles will hold upright two bridge structures that will allow the runway and its associated taxiway to slope upward across U.S. 1 and the Florida East Coast Railroad tracks.

"The piles are being delivered to the airport one at a time by tractor trailer," said Greg Meyer, airport spokesman. Eventually, they will be buried in concrete walls that will form tunnels under the runway system.

Here's what the process involves, by the numbers:

50 to 100 feet

The various lengths of the piles, which is determined by the nature of the ground beneath them. If hard, the pile is shorter, if soft, longer. The top of each pile will be sunk a foot into a concrete structure, said Ron Murtha, a runway construction director and consultant.

12

The total number of tunnels that will run under the two bridge structures. Six will burrow under the runway for U.S. 1, the railroad tracks and the airport's perimeter road; six more will be needed for a separate taxiway bridge.

$178 million

The lump sum cost of the bridge structures being built by Tutor Perini Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Venture. That company started driving the piles into the ground in May and expects to complete that phase of the runway project in December.

600 pounds

The weight per foot of each 2-by-2 foot wide pile. Considering the average length of the piles is 76 feet, the average weight is 22.8 tons. Each pile is made of reinforced concrete.

250 tons

The amount of weight each pile can support. Collectively, the piles will have to support tens of thousands of tons of concrete and steel for the runway and bridge as well as the weight of the jetliners using the runway.

30,000 pounds

The weight of a special diesel apparatus that hammers each pile into the ground. The machine pounds piles into the ground basically until they won't sink down any further.

60 feet

The height of the east end of the runway above ground level. The runway will begin sloping gently upwards at about its midpoint.

535,000

The square yards of concrete required to build the 150-foot-wide runway.

$1.24 billion

The projected cost of the south runway, including $450 million for reconfiguring Terminal 4.

Sept. 18, 2014

The date the 8,000-foot runway is scheduled to open.

kkaye@tribune.com or 954-572-2085

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro...,1865061.story

[ftlauddude]

New Fort Lauderdale Excursion to shuttle tourists between airport and downtown

By Arlene Satchell
Sun Sentinel
12:21 p.m. EST, January 16, 2013

A new airport transportation and baggage storage service has launched, which aims to give tourists with a few hours to kill before their flight, easy access to area attractions for last-minute shopping or to grab a bite.

The Fort Lauderdale Excursion will enable visitors to store their baggage at Bags To Go at the airport and then hop on the Sun Trolley to downtown, where they can ride all-day or take a Water Taxi to explore the city.

The excursion will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday, with the last departure from downtown Fort Lauderdale at 3:30 p.m., according to a City of Fort Lauderdale press release Wednesday.

The downtown drop off and pick up point will be the Fort Lauderdale History Center near area attractions and Las Olas Boulevard.

The one-day Sun Trolley excursion price is $19.95 per person while the combo Trolley-Water Taxi ticket is $29.95 each.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business...,2005849.story

[FTL Beach Bum]

Webcam of the runway project is up:

http://www.broward.org/Airport/FLLai...es/Webcam.aspx

[ftlauddude]

New ramps to ease traffic near Fort Lauderdale airport and port

By Michael Turnbell, Sun Sentinel
5:33 p.m. EST, February 27, 2013

(Michael Laughlin, Sun Sentinel / February 26, 2013)



( Cindy Jones-Hulfachor, Sun Sentinel / February 27, 2013 )

The months of delays and dizzying detours are about to end for drivers heading to Port Everglades from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

As of Friday morning, a direct new ramp will connect the port and airport, which officials say should cut delays significantly. In addition, a new Eller Drive overpass will connect Interstate 595 commuters to the Park 'N Fly lot on Northeast Seventh Avenue, an area drivers have long complained is difficult to navigate.

"I often use the Park 'N Fly lot, and at night with poor lighting it is hard to pick out the proper road," said Ben Perillo, of Boca Raton.

The $42.5 million overpass, designed to improve the confusing intersection where I-595 becomes Eller Drive, should ease port traffic and relieve backups at rail crossings on Fort Lauderdale's south side, officials say.

Since last summer, those headed to the port from the airport have been forced to go north on U.S. 1 past I-595 to Southeast 30th Street, then backtrack to Eller Drive.

Backups were so bad around holiday weekends that officials created a temporary U-turn on westbound I-595 just east of I-95. The U-turn, open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, allowed drivers to take I-595 west from the airport, then turn around and head east into the port.

The new ramp "will be a straight shot coming out of the airport into the port," said Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Miranda Iglesias.
The Eller Drive overpass will span over both Northeast Seventh Avenue and a new Florida East Coast Railway spur that will lead to a new rail yard. It is slated to open in May 2014.

The four-lane overpass and rail yard should take thousands of cargo-hauling semis and trucks off neighboring roads and prevent trains from blocking traffic on State Road 84, officials say. Cargo instead will be transferred directly from ship to rail and vice versa at the port.

While Friday's ramp openings should ease traffic for some, another year of headaches remain for others driving around the airport.

The ramp from northbound U.S. 1 to I-595 remains closed until this late this year or early next year for a separate project to build a new runway. Until then, drivers must go west on Griffin Road, then north on I-95 to get to I-595.

The ramp from the airport to southbound U.S. 1 is permanently closed. Drivers must either head west on I-595 to I-95, or go north on U.S. 1 and turn around.

A new indirect ramp to southbound U.S. 1 won't open until late 2013. It will connect drivers to Northeast Seventh Avenue, where they will continue south to Northeast 10th Street, then head west to U.S. 1 at Griffin Road.

mturnbell@tribune.com, 954-356-4155 or Twitter @MikeTurnpike

- See more at: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/bro....ZGPllsiZ.dpuf

[jtpmedic]

"Norwegian launches Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a new destination from Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Copenhagen - Fort Lauderdale twice a week
Norwegian will fly twice a week between Copenhagen (CPH) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), on Mondays and Fridays. Departure from Copenhagen is at 14:45, arriving in FLL at 19:30 local time. Departure from FLL is at 21:30, arriving CPH at 12:45 the next day. The first flight is November 29.

Stockholm - Fort Lauderdale twice a week
Norwegian will fly twice a week between Stockholm (ARN) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), on Thursdays and Sundays. Departure from ARN is at 14:45, arriving FLL at 19:30 local time. Departure from FLL is at 21:30, arriving ARN at 13:00 the next day. The first flight is December 1."

http://media.norwegian.com/en/#/pres...-to-fort-lauderdale-florida-846342

[CalleOchoGringo]

How FLL will spend $650 million to modernize terminals

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflor...=image_gallery

[1772]

Originally Posted by jtpmedic

"Norwegian launches Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a new destination from Copenhagen and Stockholm.
Copenhagen - Fort Lauderdale twice a week
Norwegian will fly twice a week between Copenhagen (CPH) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), on Mondays and Fridays. Departure from Copenhagen is at 14:45, arriving in FLL at 19:30 local time. Departure from FLL is at 21:30, arriving CPH at 12:45 the next day. The first flight is November 29.

Stockholm - Fort Lauderdale twice a week
Norwegian will fly twice a week between Stockholm (ARN) and Fort Lauderdale (FLL), on Thursdays and Sundays. Departure from ARN is at 14:45, arriving FLL at 19:30 local time. Departure from FLL is at 21:30, arriving ARN at 13:00 the next day. The first flight is December 1."

http://media.norwegian.com/en/#/pres...-to-fort-lauderdale-florida-846342

I think this will have a major impact on scandinavian tourism. Miami/So Flo is already growing as a winter destination; this will only make it bigger.

[Bannor]

Norwegian will also fly from Oslo to Fort Lauderdale on tuesdays and saturdays.