This doesn't seem like that much of a burden to endure.
There are many many places in the USA where vehicular traffic must defer to rail traffic at level crossings. Which can easily occur more often than 30x per week (30 number is from the article).
At some crossings it's not unusual to have a slow moving freight train take 15 minutes or more. How long is the road crossed for each plane? I'd expect 5 or 10 minutes max for a takeoff, I can understand they would want more time for a landing?
> This doesn't seem like that much of a burden to endure.
The road in Gibraltar is a main thoroughfare and I believe the only way to get to the Spanish border. Imagine a rail crossing going through the 101 in SF.
Considering Gibraltar has a grand total of 34,000 residents, it’s more similar to a rail crossing splitting Palo Alto. Which is the case. Similarly, probably as many people a day use the Fremont drawbridge in Seattle, which yields to boat traffic. I think this class of example is why people would be surprised so few cars would sometimes block air traffic.
Also the 101 has traffic lights in SF, when the freeway turns into Van Ness. If Van Ness had a rail crossing, I’d expect cars to wait on trains.
There's much more traffic than the residents. A lot of people work but doesn't live in Gibraltar, a lot of tourists and loads of people crossing the border just to buy cheap cigarettes. There are usually queues outside every cigarette shop. It's complete chaos at the border and nothing like any rail crossing I've ever seen.
A couple of weeks ago I had to stop at a train crossing, arrived just a few seconds late to beat the train. It was a very long train. Then I noticed it was slowing down. As it got within one car of passing the intersection it stopped completely. A guy jumped off and did some stuff, then jumped back on. And the train started moving again - in reverse! I wasn't timing how long I was stopped, but it seemed like forever.
There are many many places in the USA where vehicular traffic must defer to rail traffic at level crossings. Which can easily occur more often than 30x per week (30 number is from the article).
At some crossings it's not unusual to have a slow moving freight train take 15 minutes or more. How long is the road crossed for each plane? I'd expect 5 or 10 minutes max for a takeoff, I can understand they would want more time for a landing?