AIRPORT BOARD CERTIFIES RUNWAY PROJECT EIR; ASKS CITY COUNCIL TO OK PROJECT FOR SAFETY BENEFITS
(Los Angeles, California –December 5, 2005) The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and adopted other related documents for the Southside Airfield Improvement Project (SAIP) at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The Board’s action further recommends that the Los Angeles City Council approve the project, which would include moving LAX’s southernmost runway approximately 55 feet south to improve safety by providing for a new center taxiway.
The project-specific or tiered EIR is the first such project to come out of the LAX Master Plan approved December 2004 by the City Council. The LAX Master Plan looked at the overall impacts and provisions for mitigation of the modernization of the airport, while this project-specific EIR addressed only the environmental effects related to the construction of the runway project. Each project contained in the LAX Master Plan must have its own EIR prepared and approved.
The South Airfield Improvement Project consists of moving Runway 7R/25L at LAX approximately 55 feet south of its present location and constructing a new parallel taxiway between the airport’s two south airfield runways. The South Runway Complex is located south of the Central Terminal Area, north of the cargo and other facilities along Imperial Highway, east of Pershing Drive and west of LaCienega Boulevard.
Airport officials have determined that the relocation of the runway and the addition of the taxiway are critical to improving airfield safety and reducing the potential for runway incursions on the south airfield. LAX and Federal Aviation Administration officials have been concerned over recent years about the persistent number of runway incursions of varying severity. While no accidents between aircraft landing or departing LAX have occurred on the South Runway Complex, officials studied the problem and determined the Southside project offered the best physical solution to reduce the risk of runway incursions. Landing aircraft on 7R/25L now will be physically separated from the neighboring takeoff runway as they move off the runway to reach passenger terminals via a new center taxiway.
It is the first major construction project approved by the Board since a proposed legal settlement addressing the modernization of LAX was announced Dec. 1, 2005, by Los Angeles World Airports, neighboring cities, a community group and the County of Los Angeles.
The board action certifies the project-specific EIR complies with both the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Los Angeles City CEQA guidelines; the mitigation measures identified in the EIR constitute all feasible mitigation measures for the project and reduce most potentially significant impacts to a less significant level; and that where impacts remain significant and unavoidable despite the implementation of feasible mitigation measures or LAX Master Plan Commitments, specific economic, legal, social, technological or other considerations outweigh the potentially significant unavoidable effects on the environment.
The EIR was published August 1, 2005, and was subject to a 45-day public comment period that ended September 15, 2005.
In addition to safety considerations, the SAIP will provide for flight operations by the new Airbus A-380 that some international air carriers expect to place in service at LAX in 2007. The Board of Airport Commissioners is expected to award the construction contract for the runway project at its next Board meeting Dec. 19. Construction is expected to begin during Spring 2006 and last 26 months.
On a related matter, LAWA gave a Notice to Proceed to Swinerton Builders on Nov. 30 to reconstruct Gate 101 at the Tom Bradley International Terminal to accommodate passenger loading and unloading of the A-380 at LAX. In another Board action, the HNTB Corporation received an amendment to its contract to provide complete professional design and construction administrative services for the Southside Airfield Improvements and New Large Aircraft Studies Program. The amendment for $2.1 million will cover work through April 2008.
