Changes and Development
Currently, the only entrance to Love Field is through the signalized intersection of Mockingbird Lane and Herb Kelleher Way at the south end of the airport. Mockingbird Lane is a busy arterial with over 50,000 vehicles/day and Herb Kelleher Way has 28,000 vehicles/day: making for a very congested intersection. which often slips to Level of Service "F" (the lowest rating - intersection failure) during peak periods. The traffic through this intersection is comprised of traffic to the airport, but also through traffic to the surrounding businesses, medical district and residential areas.
During incidents, the intersection has long backups, sometimes preventing First Responders from timely access to the airport. Similarly, severe back-ups occur when maintenance work requires lane closures on either street, significantly impacting airport operations.
Any meaningful improvement to the intersection would require grade separation: however, a grade separated structure will significantly impact the entrance and through traffic at the intersection during construction activities. Additionally, due to height limitations, the only option is to grade separate below the existing roadway, which has significant utilities to be addressed.
The above poses security and operational risks to the airport in case the only entrance is blocked as emergency response and evacuation operations will be severely impacted. The Alternate Entry project was undertaken to addresses the operational and security issues.
Deficiencies
Security and operational risks associated with having a single entry point through a congested intersection to the nation's busiest medium hub airport.
If there is an incident that blocks the intersection, first responders and patrons cannot get to the airport in a timely manner and evacuation operations cannot be performed if needed.
