AIRPORT (February 10, 2009) Works to create better traffic flow on a rerouted Airport Road and improve safety for travelers should start soon, PJIAE President drs. Eugene Holiday has announced. Government recently issued the necessary permits; the work has since been tendered and bids by interested contractors are under consideration. "Bearing in mind the urgency to improve the traffic situation at our airport, we want to execute this project as soon as possible," said drs. Holiday.

The rerouting works will in broad lines follow the original Master Plan for the development of the airport. During the execution of Phase II of the Masterplan –which included the construction of the current terminal building – the original plan for the road network envisaged in the Master plan had to be adjusted, based on discussions in mid 2007 with the current owners of the former BBW property.

Drs. Holiday explained: “To execute the rerouting of the airport road as originally intended, PJIAE would need to acquire property east of the new terminal and north-west of the new terminal, the latter being the former BBW property. However, given that discussions associated with the acquisition of the latter property were not progressing favorably and considering the need to move the Phase II project forward, we decided to temporarily adjust the road plan pending a resolution of the property issues at hand.”

He said that the decision to temporarily designate the public parking lot north of the airport road was based on a number of considerations from a customer service perspective. First, during the construction the public used the current employee parking resulting in significant traffic back-up due to the constant turning off and on of vehicles to the airport road, to/from the parking lot. Considerations to use the current employee parking for public parking were also put aside, as the employee parking lot is located further from the check-in hall which would mean that passengers and visitors would have a longer way to walk to the check in hall with their luggage. And third, the passenger flow within the terminal building would be affected which would create congestion in the meet and greet area. To ensure the safety of pedestrians crossing the road a raised pedestrian crossing, speed bumps and traffic lights were incorporated at the crossing.

In September of 2007 PJIA commissioned Netherlands Airports Consultants (NACO) to develop a new plan to reroute the Airport Road as much as possible in line with the original plans for the airport road.

The proposed airport road rerouting plan is a variation of the plan originally envisioned in the Masterplan and aims at:

1. securing and enhancing adequate traffic flow to/from the airport;
2. relinquishing the pedestrian crossing over the main road;
3. increasing the car parking capacity;
4. maintaining the possibility of future airport development in line with the master plan.

Coming from the east the proposed rerouted airport road will connect at the bend, where the entrance to the public car parking is currently situated, a roundabout will be created at that location. The new road will continue along the Simpson Bay lagoon flowing along the eastern and northern shoreline and then curves following the perimeters of the public parking lot to the west. At the front of the Terminal building the new road will connect with the existing airport road. To reach the public car parking coming from Philipsburg direction, motorists can turn left at the roundabout. To reach the public car parking coming from Maho motorists can use the airport frontage roads.

 

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