Expansion of Lindbergh Field moves
forward
Mar 10, 2009
By San Diego Suburban Newspapers
The City Council Monday endorsed a $4 billion plan
to revamp San Diego's Lindbergh Field that would shift most of the passenger
and transit services to the north side of the airport.
The project, which would be completed in three phases
through 2030, would create a transit center along Pacific Highway that would
link train, bus and trolley service to the airport and eventually high-speed
rail.
It would include a new passenger terminal, parking
lots, rental car hub and direct access to the airport from Interstate 5.
Ultimately, passengers would check in on the north
side of Lindbergh Field, before boarding a subway or "people mover'' that
would transport them under the runway to the airport's gates.
The proposal doesn't envision a second runway at
Lindbergh Field.
The City Council voted 6-2 to accept a report on the
plan, coined "Destination Lindbergh,'' and forward it to the San Diego
County Regional Airport Authority board for final adoption. Councilmembers
Donna Frye and Kevin Faulconer cast the dissenting votes.
The council also voted 5-3 to work with the Airport
Authority to seek state and federal funding for the project. Frye, Faulconer
and Councilwoman Sherri Lightner were opposed to that component.
The proposal follows eight months of meetings by the
Ad Hoc Airport Regional Policy Committee, which retained a Houston-based
consulting firm to analyze possible improvements to Lindbergh Field.
The ad-hoc panel, which was chaired by Mayor Jerry
Sanders, includes officials from the Airport Authority, San Diego Association
of Governments, Port of San Diego, San Diego County, Metropolitan Transit
System, North County Transit District and the U.S. Defense Department.
Before the vote, Sanders said the proposal would
"dramatically change Lindbergh Field for the better.''
Sanders testified that overhauling Lindbergh Field
was necessary as the options for building a new international airport somewhere
else in the county were "extremely limited.''
"Until there is a viable site, we must do
everything we can to make sure Lindbergh Field operates as smoothly as possible
into the future,'' he said.
In 2006, San Diego voters rejected a proposal to move
the airport to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Faulconer, who represents most of the neighborhoods
around the airport, said he had "serious concerns'' about infrastructure
and financing for the project. He also said it does nothing to address
Lindbergh Field's fundamental problem -- inadequate runway space.
"This does not improve the capacity of Lindbergh
Field,'' he said.
San Diego has the nation's busiest single-runway
airport. Lindbergh Field now serves about 18 million passengers, but will have
to accommodate 28 million passengers by 2030, the consultants hired to analyze
the airport told the City Council.
Alan Bersin, chairman of the Airport Authority,
acknowledged "problems'' with capacity due to the single runway. "We
will have to supplement capacity at some point in the future,''
Bersin said. However, he said "we need to keep
Lindbergh Field viable and this plan is the best way to do that.''
Sanders said last month that if all the parties
approve the "Destination Lindbergh'' concept, a working group will be
established to consider design, engineering and financing.
The estimated $4 billion cost of the project could be
financed through state and federal grants, rental car companies and the fees
paid by passengers traveling out of Lindbergh Field.
For more information on the expansion: http://www.san.org/airport_authority/airport_site_selection/selection_expand.asp
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City Council Accepts Lindbergh Field Makeover Plan
Proposed
Overhaul Includes New Terminal, Transit Center
A change is gonna
come to San Diego International/Lindbergh Field (SAN); at least, that appears likely
after the city council accepted a report this week calling for a total makeover
of the busy airport.
The San Diego
Union Tribune reports councilors voted their approval Monday to the plan,
submitted by a panel of local officials led by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.
The plan -- approved 6-2 -- calls for the construction of a new passenger
terminal, parking garages and a multimodal transit center connecting the
airfield to the city center.
The new terminal
would be constructed at the north end of the field -- near Interstate 5 -- with
an underground train eventually ferrying passengers to existing gates at the
south end. Until that subway is completed, buses would shuttle passengers
between the two points.
Councilors who
expressed misgivings about earlier expansion plans -- which called for a new
multilevel parking garage near Terminal 2 -- hope the new arrangement will
prevent that structure from being 'shoehorned' onto a plot of land near Harbor
Drive.
"It would be
a waste of money," said City Councilman Carl DeMaio of the proposed
structure. Others say the garage would add to existing traffic problems on an
already-clogged arterial road. Officials have not yet ruled on whether that
structure will be built.
Sanders' panel was
formed last year to find a compromise between the city and the San Diego County
Regional Airport Authority, on how to best expand Lindbergh Field. The
single-runway airport is expected to reach capacity by 2025.
An entirely new
airport would be ideal, but San Diego has few options in that regard. Voters
rejected in 2006 a plan to add commercial facilities to Marine Corps Air
Station Miramar, after military officials made it clear they still
had plans for that facility.
The Lindbergh
plan next goes to the airport authority for consideration. If approved, work
will begin on the expected 20-year expansion plan, which is projected to cost
between $5 billion and $11 billion.