Sunday, April 27, 2008
Nevada Transportation Department Director Says Transcend Roads And Envision A System
By Robert L. Candiotti
I have taken note of some statements made by Nevada Transportation Department Director Susan Martinovich on KNPR's
local radio show State of Nevada.
On a recent segment, hosted by Dave Berns, she said these words that
I find encouraging. Martinovich said with conviction, "We're a transportation department. It isn't just roads.
We have to look to the future and we have to look at it as a system. A transportation system. How do all the parts
fit together?"
What she is saying is consistent with the basic Southern Nevada transportation philosophy of
IvanpahValley.com, the mother-site of this blog.
As is stated at the bottom of the "Planes, Bars, Buses and
Trains" page of IvanpahValley.com, all the possible modes of human and goods movement "are needed for integrated
systems of transportation that will enable Ivanpah Valley Airport to be successful and long enduring."
8:13 pm pdt
Saturday, April 19, 2008
How Green Is Ivanpah Valley Going To Be? Thinking About How Green Was My Valley
By Robert L. Candiotti
When I was reading John G. Edwards' April 19 Las Vegas Review-Journal article about James E. Hansen's
opposition to coal-fired power, a vision of the 1941 movie How Green Was My Valley crossed my mind.
The
first time I saw the motion picture, decades after it was made, was at home on television on a Saturday afternoon,
when I was a young boy.
The movie is about a large family of coal miners, the Morgans, in Wales in 1900. Living
hard lives, the Morgans had dignity and respect. The movie has a gritty feeling of long long ago, and it is in black
and white.
While I was daydreaming about the movie, I suddenly realized this is - to a degree - the way I feel
about coal today. It is a gritty fuel from long long ago.
I will emphasize right now I realize coal was essential
for the Industrial Revolution, providing inexpensive fuel for industry and steam-powered transportation. But that began 200
years ago. To me, coal today seems very old-fashioned, and is especially not needed in Nevada in view of the abundant renewable
resources the state has not fully developed yet.
Truly, I have nothing against the coal industry. It is one
of the most important industries of America's history. But, with the availability of oil, natural gas, nuclear and "green"
energy, coal's importance waned through the 1900s. Today, the emissions and wastes of coal mines are very controversial.
As I regularly read and think about Nevada's - and Las Vegas' - future, I never seem to waver from this
conclusion: Nevada's energy future, to achieve a lifestyle that is consistent with the best of the 21st Century,
is in renewables.
Solar, wind and geothermal energy are Nevada's logical resources of the future, I believe.
Back to How Green Was My Valley, I must say I love old black and white movies. But I don't think I'd
like to be stuck in one. The movie suggests the past. And so do fossil fuels, including, of course, coal.
Bright
colors should be what the present and future are about. The renewable resources of Nevada carry the palette of colors that
can paint a vibrant energy future.
I know this may sound corny, but it really is what I think.
Reflecting on the classic motion picture How Green Was My Valley, my thoughts have moved to wondering
how green my valley will actually be five or ten years from now.
Speaking at Illinois Wesleyan University
last February, at the end of a presentation that I found on the Internet, Hansen - a respected climate scientist -
said, "We have to figure out how to live without fossil fuels someday...
Why not now?"
6:40 pm pdt
Monday, April 14, 2008
A380s Will Be Landing In Ivanpah Valley In 2017
By Robert L. Candiotti
To remain in the top tier of world cities, Las Vegas will need the proposed supplemental airport known as Ivanpah
Valley Airport.
The proposal for a large, international airport is undergoing the Environmental Impact Statement
process that is scheduled to conclude in the second half of 2010.
The destiny, I believe, of nondescript, amazingly
level Ivanpah Valley - 30 miles south of Las Vegas - is that it will be home to Ivanpah Valley Airport.
Every
time I crunch the data, ponder local and global developments, and fantasize about 10 years into the future, I always come
to the same conclusion: A380s will be landing in Ivanpah Valley in 2017.
There is no way around
it. Significant aviation development is right now taking place in Asia and the Middle East. European aviation is not standing
still either. For Las Vegas to remain in the world grid of aviation matrices, Ivanpah Valley Airport is necessary.
Who am I to come to such conclusions? No one more than just a person who has been doggedly reading and thinking
about Ivanpah Valley Airport and the future of Southern Nevada for almost two years.
6:02 am pdt
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Southern Nevada Will Need To Have An Airport Where A380 Aircraft Can Be Accommodated
By Robert L. Candiotti
In the March, 2008, issue of Airside International, Dr. Michael Holzschneider of Dornier Consulting delineates
the many issues that surround airport upgrade requirements for the new Airbus A380 airplane.
The A380 - a double-deck,
truly jumbo, jet that can easily carry 600 passengers on a single flight - has already entered commercial service. Singapore
Airlines has taken delivery of the first three A380s. These are flying between Singapore and Sydney and London. Service
between Singapore and Tokyo will begin in May.
It is projected up to 800 A380 aircraft will be operating
worldwide 20 years from now.
The A380 is a huge jetliner. It needs very long runways, lots of space,
unique aprons, modified terminals, original aircraft servicing, more intricate turnaround procedures, and on and on.
Holzschneider emphasizes that all these modifications are not at all easy for airports that already have been built. Still,
airports at London, Singapore, Sydney and Los Angeles, for example, are undergoing modifications to handle the A380.
Also, he mentions two brand new airports as examples of airports that have been constructed to accommodate A380
specifications: Berlin Brandenburg and the new airport in Bangkok.
Ivanpah Valley Airport will be another airport
designed from inception to handle the A380, as well as other, presently unknown, futuristic super-jumbo aircraft.
Clearly, the A380 will become a common aircraft in the world's skies. To remain "in the game" in the
future, Las Vegas will need to have airport infrastructure that can handle the Airbus A380. Ivanpah Valley Airport will
be able to fill that need for Southern Nevada, as well as adjacent Southern California.
6:08 am pdt
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Nevada Landing Is Finally Coming Down As Heavy Equipment Chips Away Every Day
By Robert L. Candiotti
After being closed for good, emptied out at auction, and standing mute and dark for several months, Nevada Landing
Hotel and Casino, on the shoulder of I-15 at Jean, Nevada, is coming down.
Nevada Landing has not been afforded
the dignity of a quick implosion.
The famous and mythical casinos in Las Vegas, 30 miles north of Jean, are given
implosions when they are demolished. People stay up until 3:00 a.m. to see, and hear, the instantaneous leveling of the behind-the-times
casinos.
It's always a Las Vegas milestone that makes a dramatic photo when the whole thing - such as
the recently imploded Stardust - comes down at once. But Jean is not Las Vegas, and it lacks the mystique and money that waft
up and down Las Vegas Boulevard 24/7.
In Jean, the demolition people have been chipping away at Nevada Landing
for a few weeks. Starting from the rear, more and more every day has been lopped off and turned to an unsightly mess.
The last time I passed by, a few days ago, the sign in front said NEVADA LAND. The "ING" was gone.
Already torn away. Actually, the sign was telling the truth. Where Nevada Landing stood is now becoming acres of Southern
Nevada land that will be redeveloped for the future.
As far as modern casinos go, Nevada Landing was never
a big deal (except, of course, for truckers). It was small, rectangular and nondescript. Where Nevada Landing made its
mark was its location. For people driving from California to Las Vegas, Nevada Landing let people know they were
only about a half hour from Sin City.
For travelers heading south to California, Nevada Landing offered
one of the last chances (the last being Primm) to gamble, have some decent food, walk the dog, take a leak and get
some gas before crossing the state line.
Gold Strike, on the opposite side of the freeway is still open,
but Nevada Landing is most definitely history.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Jean now.
5:02 pm pdt
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Will Replace Radar
By Robert L. Candiotti
The Federal Aviation Administration is guiding the development of a national satellite-based air traffic control system.
The new system - funded by a $1.8 billion contract to ITT - will replace radar as the country's primary air control
system.
Radar (which is an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging) uses electromagnetic waves to identify the
range, altitude, direction and speed of an aircraft. The radar system has been used for air traffic control for more than
a half century.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a system of satellites orbiting Earth. The GPS concept was
developed over a period of several decades. By January 17, 1994, according to wikipedia.com, a full "constellation"
of 24 GPS satellites was orbiting the Earth.
In August, 2007, the FAA announced the winner of the huge aviation
contract is ITT. The air traffic control GPS system is called Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS-B). Says an E-Commerce
Times article dated August 31, 2007, "The new system will reduce flight delays, in part by allowing planes to fly
closer together."
The E-Commerce Times story says ITT has until 2013 to have the system working throughout
the nation.
Therefore, with a projected opening in 2017, Ivanpah Valley Airport will have ADS-B as its primary
traffic control system.
For more information about ADS-B, see the sub-page IVA Will Have GPS under Infrastructure Is Essential For Growth in IvanpahValley.com.
6:48 am pdt
