Week 9 – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Hi everyone and welcome back!
This past week I have been on the road coming back from the beach and all through the Midwest to get to my destination of rural Iowa!
As much as I would like to talk about my travels I want to focus on the last remaining weeks of Senior Project and tell you what I’ve been up to! Last week and beginning of this week I started to outline my presentation and create some talking points for when I present in the coming weeks! Working on these last steps has really shown me how much my project has grown these past couple weeks and how much I have learned about these different cities and their historical overlap. Enough about that lets get into my findings from this week!
I was very much inspired by my travels on the road for the focus of this week’s blog post (hence the title)! So lets get into what each city has to offer in terms of transportation!
Planes:
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX):
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One of the busiest airports in the U.S. and a major hub for international and domestic travel, located about 18 miles southwest of downtown LA, serves as a major base for several airlines (including Delta, American, and United Airlines), and known for heavy traffic but offers many nonstop international routes.
O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
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A major global hub and one of the largest airports by passenger volume in the U.S., located about 17 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, and a hub for United and American Airlines with extensive international and domestic connections.
Though there are 3 major airports used to access NYC I want to focus on just LaGuardia Airport to stick with a Manhattan related theme.
LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
- Focuses on domestic flight, especially to major East Coast cities, closest airport to Manhattan as it is about 8 miles in distance, and recently underwent a major renovation with improved terminals and transit access.
Dulles International Airport (IAD)
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Main international airport for the D.C. area, located in Virginia about 26 miles west of downtown D.C., and offers many long-haul international flights and serves as a hub for United Airlines.
Reagan National Airport (DCA)
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Closest airport to downtown DC (about 5 miles), primarily serves domestic routes due to distance restrictions on flights, and very convenient for any Business travelers with its close vicinity to downtown and is accessible by public transportation.
Automobiles:
Now to keep it short and sweet I will briefly cover the highway and road system in each city (since I have discussed public transportation in previous blog posts I will be skipping it for this week’s post)!
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Los Angeles: Known for its extensive freeway network (like I-405, I-10, and US-101) and heavy traffic; driving is the primary mode of transportation for most residents.
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Chicago: Features a well-connected system of interstates (such as I-90, I-94, and I-290) converging near downtown; traffic congestion is common during peak hours.
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New York City: Dense road network with limited highway access in Manhattan; major routes include I-95, the FDR Drive, and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE); traffic and parking are major challenges. Also the addition of congestion pricing in NYC opens a door for discussion around its impacts on NYC traffic.
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Washington, D.C.: Surrounded by a network of beltways and parkways (notably I-495 and I-66); roads can be confusing due to diagonal avenues and circles, and traffic is often heavy during rush hours.
Sorry this week’s post is a tad bit longer there is just so much to be said about transportation!
Thanks for reading and come back next week for the last blog post!!