W hile Atlanta continues to study options for building a second airport, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield has a simple answer: link Hartsfield-Jackson with Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.

“I’ve told Mayor [Shirley] Franklin that we’ll even rename it the North Atlanta Airport if that would help any,” Littlefield says in an exclusive interview with Business to Business.

In May 2007, the U.S. Department of Transportation  provided a $1 million grant for Atlanta to study options to increase capacity at Hartsfield-Jackson, including a possible second airport. The Federal Aviation Administration projects Atlanta will need a new airport by 2025. 

Some Georgia leaders are trying to move the state line a little further north to tap into the Tennessee River and solve the state’s water shortage.

“We’re not taking that as a serious attempt to settle Georgia’s water situation,” Littlefield says. But rather than look north for water, Littlefield suggests Chattanooga should be a partner in resolving area transportation issues.

Littlefield says Chattanooga’s airport still has plenty of room to grow. The airport is larger than New York’s LaGuardia or Washington National, although it only has one runway. The terminal is relatively new, having been renovated about 10 years ago. “We’ve been adding more flights to more hubs,” he says. “Plus, we’re close to the fast-growing northern suburbs of Atlanta, so we can offer a real solution.”

Building a new airport for Atlanta would be a daunting task. Early studies indicate it would cost billions and take many years to complete. Delta Air Lines and AirTran, which both have their main hubs at Hartsfield-Jackson, are cool to the concept of a second airport. There also would be a variety of logistic and environmental issues to resolve.

Too Many Lawyers
Simply finding a location for a new airport is a challenge, one sure to face local opposition. Littlefield is familiar with some of the potential airport sites previously considered in north Georgia, quoting a former Georgia transportation official who told him sites that once were appealing now are surrounded by development. “There are too many subdivisions there, and too many lawyers living in those subdivisions, so the odds of an airport being built seem unlikely,” he says. “Chattanooga is a good option; we’re already here.”

Littlefield’s position also is reflected in comments by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. When she announced the $1 million grant last spring, Peters advised officials across the country to keep all their options open while they look to solutions to future airport congestion. “ Building new airports, expanding existing fields and taking better advantage of smaller
regional airports are all solutions that must be considered to meet the demand for air travel that continues to grow,” Peters stated.

The major issue with Chattanooga becoming Atlanta’s second airport relates to ground transportation. How would passengers move between the two airports? And how would Atlanta residents who are not within easy driving distance get between the facilities?

The obvious answer seems to be a high-speed rail line connecting the two airports, a solution that dovetails with other proposals for expanded rail service for the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Consultants currently are working on a study on establishing a high-speed rail system between the airports in Chattanooga and Atlanta. Littlefield says Chattanooga is helping fund the $8 million study, which is being led by the Georgia Department of Transportation. The rail line may include both express service and routes with a few stops, possibly in the Kennesaw and Calhoun-Dalton areas, he notes.

Littlefield also says preliminary plans are underway in Tennessee for rail service connecting Chattanooga and Nashville. A Chattanooga-Atlanta route would naturally tie into that effort. “We want to eventually build a southern transportation network,” he adds.

“A rail line would be good for both cities. We enjoying spending the weekend in Atlanta, and we enjoy having you come up here as well.”


A Major Market For Tourism
In fact, Atlanta is one of Chattanooga’s primary markets for its tourism industry. Visitors still flock to such traditional favorites as Rock City, Ruby Falls and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. Area tourism officials also target Atlanta residents with outdoor recreation opportunities ranging from hang-gliding off Lookout Mountain and kayaking on the Tennessee River to whitewater rafting along the 1996 Olympic course on the Ocoee River.
 
“When we had the only aquarium in the area,” Littlefield says, “we had a constant flow of Georgia schoolchildren. Since the Georgia Aquarium opened, we lost some of that traffic, although we’ve rebuilt it with other markets.”

The Tennessee Aquarium has doubled in size and is adding a high-speed catamaran this summer that will take tourists on boat tours of the Tennessee River Gorge. “I’ve told Mayor Franklin that at least Atlanta can’t build a river [to compete with the new boat ride],” Littlefield says, adding a laugh. “Plus, we have better penguins.”

Littlefield also has personal ties to Atlanta. He was born in LaGrange, so “Atlanta is like my capital city. As a young boy, I used to ride the train from LaGrange to visit Atlanta. I’ve been watching it grow since the 1950s.Unfortunately, some of the growth beyond the city boundaries had led to some of the problems the city is having right now.”

He also says Atlanta and Chattanooga have long shared a special relationship, with business, social and economic ties on a number of levels. For example, “we have Coca-Cola in common,” he says. “They invented the drink in Atlanta, while we invented the concept of bottling and franchising in Chattanooga.” (In 1899, two Chattanooga local attorneys paid $1 for exclusive rights to bottle Coke across most of the United States. That deal made Chattanooga home to the world’s first Coca-Cola bottling company and spawned a national network local bottlers.)

Despite a brooding border war over water rights and other possible conflicts, Littlefield sees numerous opportunities for Chattanooga and Atlanta to cooperate as “sister cities” for the common good. “We’re proud of our history working together,” he says, and many more opportunities are available for future collaboration.