Impact of a general aviation airport on surrounding land use patterns: Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: The purpose of this case study was to examine the impact of a general aviation airport on nearby land-use patterns. In particular, it sought to determine the ways in which land use changes with increasing distance from the airport and the extent to which runway orientation influences surrounding land use. Two hypotheses were set forth to address the influence of distance and another two to address the influence of runway orientation on directionality. For each pair of hypotheses, the first one considered the amount of residential and other noise-sensitive land uses, while the second considered population density as an indirect indicator of residential land. A geographic information system was used to create land-use maps, and to analyze both the range and directionality of the airport's influence. The airport selected for this case study was Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport, the busiest airport in Oklahoma. It is situated in the Tulsa metropolitan area.

Findings and Conclusions: Six major research findings resulted from this case study. Of particular note, the results suggest that for this airport the range of the airport's influence extends 2,000 feet beyond the airport boundary. Other significant findings were the lack of a simple gradation of land uses according to distance, the preponderance of agricultural and residential land uses, the close association of industrial land uses with the airport, the fairly even distribution of commercial land uses with distance, and the uncertain results regarding the role of runway orientation on the directionality of nearby land-use patterns.