I agree it makes newcomers very nerveous when making those turns, esp if there is a tram stopping right in the middle of the road!
The trip to the old mining site is inspiring - miners lives are always hard. West Virginia is the poorest state in U.S. and there are still mining accidents every year in today's society. A very tough way to make a living.
Finally, about the boarding gate at airport - almost all U.S. domestic flights operated that way - a plane arrived, the passengers deplaned and walked out of the gate. Takes about 15min to clear and soon the boarding for the next flight starts and passengers board the plane from the SAME gate.
The airlines try to keep the turnaround time below an hour - time is money - each minute counts. Some airlines, such as Continental, there are cash incentives for the crew (both flight crew and ground crew) to achieve targeted turnaround time ratio in a month, a quarter...