We worked on the upgrading of the Norfolk Municipal Airport in the early ‘70s. As we progressed, we discovered that the upgrading at that location was a very, very bad idea. It happened only because Norfolk did not want a larger hub airport in a competing city. Of course, a second-rate airport has hobbled the region’s economy.

We studied building a large cargo/industrial airport in the city of Chesapeake, then all rural. Federal grants were available because of the desire to off-load air traffic from the combined airspace of the Norfolk airport with the two nearby Navy airbases. Also, there was a military logistics benefit. The City of Norfolk torpedoed the project.