[299 bloor call control.]

That's exactly what i was going to say ProjectEnd... if this thing was built here in Toronto it'd probably be a platform attached to a cell phone tower with scotch tape. Why can't we automatically have European design standards?!

 

[Hipster Duck]

I have a shaky feeling that Berlin airport is overdesigned. It is a city of 4 million surrounded by the lowest density, poorest part of Germany. It is an anomaly among world cities, as if Toronto were built in rural New Brunswick. With a 15% unemployment rate and few corporate headquarters of any size, Berlin is also not at the heart of any major growth, either.

FRA already handles the bulk of Germany's traffic and is well connected by high speed rail to a larger share of the German population. It's also worth mentioning that Berlin's only other advantage - being a gateway to Eastern Europe - is already largely fulfilled by Frankfurt. Indeed, if you wanted to fly to Chisinau, or Baku or Bucharest from North America, chances are that your connecting flight would be in Frankfurt.

 

[unimaginative2]

Frankfurt's already very overcrowded and has little opportunity for further growth. That's why they built the big new airport in Munich, and Lufthansa has been trying to transfer as many flights as possible. Berlin is still a world capital, and it's the only major world capital with virtually no intercontinental flights (That's right, Ottawa has more). It also has a lot of potential as a gateway to Eastern Europe, not only for connecting flights but by car and train as well. With Chemnitz, Leipzig, and Dresden, there's a pretty big population base -- as big as Munich. If nothing else, it will help make Berlin an even bigger tourist attraction. Its biggest weakness right now is its poor air access.

 

[simply Dan]

I have a shaky feeling that Berlin airport is overdesigned.

What new infrastructure project in Berlin isn't overdesigned?

Consider that Hamburg, Hanover, Dresden, Lepizig and countless smaller cities in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic are all within 2 hours of Berlin - hardly a great distance away. An ICE high-speed train station will be located within the main terminal building. To say Berlin is an isolated city isn't exactly the same as saying Winnipeg is an isolated city.

Berlin needs a new airport, and why not do it right the first time, instead of being cheap and building something that will be difficult to expand in the future. Berlin may be poor but Germany is very very rich and the federal government is writing the cheque for this project.

 

[Hipster Duck]

Well, it's not isolated in the North American sense, but then again, Frankfurt is within easy ICE reach of all those cities too.

They can build the airport right, and I agree that you might as well make provisions for future growth. Even so, I think it's unlikely that that growth will materialize.

Berlin is Germany's most cosmopolitan and exciting city and the one that I'd want to live in the most. Still, despite the massive amount of infrastructure investment from the German federal government, it has failed to become a lightning rod for economic growth. This is true for all of the former East Germany, as a whole.

On these urban discussion forums, we believe more firmly than others that investing in new infrastructure will be a panacea to the economic and social problems that plague our cities. "If you build it, they will come" seems to be a very fervent mantra of ours. Berlin is a sobering reminder that this is not necessarily true.

 

[JasonParis]

On these urban discussion forums, we believe more firmly than others that investing in new infrastructure will be a panacea to the economic and social problems that plague our cities. "If you build it, they will come" seems to be a very fervent mantra of ours. Berlin is a sobering reminder that this is not necessarily true.

True, but the amount of infrastructure we'd have to build before hitting "not necessarily true" territory is staggering.

 

[simply Dan]

 

[simply Dan]

East-west cross-section of BBI's future terminal...

 

[simply Dan]

A recent pic: