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A remote section of the Florida Everglades almost became the world’s largest airport. As Florida’s population rapidly expanded in the 1960s and 1970s, state planners began looking for a site for a new international airport. They began their search in the vast expanse of the Everglades west of Miami.
Plans for Everglades Jetport to Support Rapid Development in Florida
Planners settled on a site in the Big Cypress Swamp for the new airport. It was 38 miles from Miami and 48 miles from Marco Island on the state’s west coast. The Dade County Port Authority Aviation purchased the 39-square mile, 24,960-acre property, and engineers began drafting plans for its development.
In the 1960s, many believed that commercial air travel using supersonic jets would soon become common. With supersonic flight comes sonic booms, and aeronautical engineers realized it would not be wise to have frequent booms over heavily populated areas. This realization led to the search for a new airport site in the almost unpopulated Everglades.
To Airport to Support Supersonic Jets Carrying 1000 Passengers
The site needed to be large. At the time, some thought supersonic airliners capable of carrying 1000 people would soon become a common sight. These large aircraft would require long runways, and increasing air traffic to and from Florida would require more places for takeoffs and landings. The initial plans were for the airport to have six runways.
The idea was for the Everglades Jetport to become the largest airport in the world. For comparison, it was to be five times larger than JFK International Airport in New York. Work on the airport began in 1968, and crews completed the first east-west runway in 1969. There were high hopes in Florida for the project.
Optimism Across Florida for Everglades Jetport’s Success
Alan C Stewart, director of Dade County’s Port Authority, went as far as stating the Everglades Jetport was “designed to accommodate even the most optimistic projections of the future needs of aviation, even to the era of space travel, for there will be room for gantries if required.”
The project also attracted attention from other Florida communities. In the early 1960s, brothers Elliott, Robert, and Frank Mackle were key developers on Marco Island. Just south of Naples on Florida’s southwest coast, Marco was wild and remote until the Mackles and other groups began planning to build several new communities there. The Mackles were optimistic that the Everglades Jetport would bring more people to Marco Island.
In 1969, Robert Mackle stated, “Already under construction, the Jetport could well make this community the nucleus of one of the most thriving areas in the country.”
Plans for More Than Just an Airport
Plans for the airport went beyond adding more runways and larger aircraft. Engineers determined that the world’s largest airport would require a 1,000-foot-wide corridor linking it to both coasts, including a new highway and a monorail transit system.
At first, the new airport project seemed to be progressing well. The first problem came when the National Park Service collaborated with several authors and environmentalists on an Environmental Impact Report of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport.
Environmental Concerns for Airport Location
One of the report’s conclusions was, “Development of the proposed jetport and its attendant facilities will lead to land drainage and development for agriculture, transportation, and services in the Big Cypress Swamp which will inexorably destroy the south Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades National Park.”
Other groups of hunters, conservationists, and citizen activists soon joined the fight against the airport, saying it would significantly damage the Everglades environment.
Economic Feasibility of Supersonic Jets Was Another Concern
At the same time, aviation executives began to doubt the optimistic plans for the airport. Several large American carriers worried that the massive supersonic airliners of the future would not be cost-effective.
In 1970, faced with these growing environmental and economic pressures, planners decided to halt construction on the airport and search for another location.
Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport Today
Today, the jetport is known as “Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport” (TNT). It still has the original 10,499-foot-long, 150-foot-wide runway. The airport is now a precision-instrument landing and training facility for commercial pilots, private training, and occasional military use.
The facility also has a 75-foot-wide parallel taxiway and high intensity runway lights but no hangars or fuel tanks.
The site, which almost became the world’s largest airport, now has just 900 acres of developed land. The remainder of the property is under the management of the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission.
Since its original construction, the airport has undergone several improvements, such as a runway resurfacing and a lighting upgrade.
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