Study Says Bi-County Parkway Will Not Turn Dulles Into Cargo Hub

Virginia transportation officials say building the Bi-County Parkway will help turn Dulles Airport into a major air cargo hub. But a new study says a new highway may not make much difference.

Building a highway on its western side will not turn Dulles Airport into a leading airfreight hub, as the Virginia Department of Transportation hopes, according to a study by David Versel, a researcher at the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis.

"It would definitely be an important piece to support future expansion at Dulles," he says. "The problem is there hasn't been an expansion. In fact, there has been a decline in the amount of cargo moving in an out of Dulles over the past 12 years."

One reason why VDOT says the Bi-County Parkway is necessary is to improve access to Dulles from the west, for travelers and cargo haulers. Versel's study estimates the highway would affect only 8 percent of the potential market demand for air cargo operations at the airport. The problem is not the road. It's the air cargo, already dominated by other airports.

"In terms of East Coast airports, the two leading airports for cargo activity are JFK and Miami International Airport," he says. "The reason being, JFK has the most flights per day to the most destinations in Europe and Africa. And Miami has the most flights per day to the most destinations in Latin America."

Versel says air cargo has declined since the September 11 terrorist attacks because of new security measures — it's simply become easier to move things on the ground. He says if the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority develops the land it owns on Dulles' western side, a new road or roads might be necessary. However, the road in and of itself is not likely to have an enormous impact on cargo.

Versel's study does not take a position on whether the Bi-County Parkway should be built. It only analyzes the highway's potential affect on the cargo market.