Shifting a runway closer to El Segundo will likely bolster aircraft disturbances during construction, according to an environmental analysis released today.
August 1, 2005, By Andrea Sudano, Daily Breeze

Shifting a Los Angeles International Airport runway 55 feet south would unavoidably increase aircraft noise during construction, according to an environmental analysis to be released today of the first green-lighted project of the controversial LAX modernization plan.

The 1,500-page document, which analyzed environmental effects of the estimated $288 million project, summarized construction-related noise impacts of moving the airport's southernmost runway closer to El Segundo.

Because the project would involve the closure of the airport's southernmost runway for eight months and require the re-direction of air traffic, an increase in noise would be unavoidable, the document stated.

The analysis found typical methods of reducing ambient aircraft noise like residential soundproofing wouldn't be feasible during the project's relatively brief construction period.

But Los Angeles World Airports officials remained confident the effects of the project would be temporary and insignificant.

"We do not think there would be significant effects," said Patricia Tubert, LAWA's deputy executive director of the office of quality compliance. And while the analysis did explore the noise effects of physically moving the runway, it did not address anticipated aircraft sound impacts once the project is completed.

Long-term effects of the runway movement were explored in an environmental impact report released in April 2004 that analyzed the entire conceptual airport modernization plan, Tubert said.

But that might not be good enough for neighboring El Segundo, which filed a lawsuit in Superior Court over the document in January.

In the suit, the city alleges the review violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to analyze or lessen effects on noise, traffic and air quality, and ignoring concerns that the airport's growth will not be limited.

"The heavy reliance on the master plan (environmental impact report) is discouraging because obviously we weren't satisfied with the (report) or we wouldn't have filed suit over it," El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell said.

Reconfiguring LAX's south runway is one of several projects comprising the modernization plan.

Plans call for the airport's southernmost runway to be shifted 55 feet closer to El Segundo to create a roomier taxiway between two runways running side-by-side.

Planes currently land on the outer south runway and cross an inner thoroughfare to reach airport terminals.

Aircraft are supposed to stop on a taxiway and await instructions before crossing. But planes sometimes do not halt on time, consequently getting too close to planes awaiting takeoff on the inner runway.

An incident last week in which a small Cessna Caravan crossed in front of an American Airlines Boeing 747 gearing up for takeoff marked the seventh incident of this nature this year.

Los Angeles World Airports believes it can curb such incidents by creating a long center taxiway between the two runways. Planes could then land, turn onto the center aisle and wait for an opening to continue their way toward the terminals.

The airport maintains the runway project is the best way to ensure the safety of planes and passengers.

But Mayor McDowell, a longtime opponent of airport expansion, believes shifting the runway would bring planes a little too close for comfort.

"When you're looking at 55 feet from 35,000 feet in the air, it's nothing," McDowell said. "But from your front door, that's two houses behind you."