"U.S. fast-tracks Philadelphia runway plan"

Friday, November 1, 2002

U.S. fast-tracks Phila. runway plan
The airport made a federal list to get a quicker environmental review.
Still, the soonest new runways will be ready is 2010.
By Marcia Gelbart
The Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer


A billion-dollar plan for new runways at Philadelphia International
Airport was flagged yesterday by the U.S. Transportation Department as a
high-priority project to receive speedier environmental reviews.

The agency included the runway proposal on an initial list of seven
federal transportation projects singled out to receive similar expedited
reviews under an executive order issued in September by President Bush.

Average environmental reviews of airport runways generally take at least
three years; federal officials could not say yesterday how much less
time would be needed now that Philadelphia was prioritized.

So far, Philadelphia is the only airport to be fast-tracked, which means
it will get special attention from at least three federal agencies that
must conduct the environmental reviews.

An FAA spokeswoman, Marcia Adams, said Philadelphia's airport was chosen
because resolving issues here would "help with [air] congestion in the
Mid-Atlantic region."

But it is too soon to say whether the speedier review will result in an
earlier start of runway construction. The soonest new runways would
become operational is still 2010, according to the consultant in charge
of the project for Philadelphia's airport.

"It is something that will hopefully allow for the environmental process
to move along more quickly," Allan R. A'Hara of DMJM Aviation said.
"It's not going to allow anybody to shortcut anything."

The city-owned airport has spent the last two years assessing how to
create a new runway layout to reduce congestion at Philadelphia, which
is one of the most delay-prone airports in the nation.

Led by A'Hara, an airport team has developed two design options that
would include a combination of building new runways and extending
existing ones.

One option would create four new parallel runways diagonal to the main
runways. The other would mean creating three parallel runways by
extending three that already exist and building a new one.

The final project cost for each option has not been evaluated, but
officials have said it would range from $1 billion to $2 billion.

The team had hoped to settle on a design by December. But yesterday,
A'Hara said that no decision would be made until after the
environmental-impact statement, required by the Federal Aviation
Administration, was completed for both design options.

"For every pro on one [option], there's a con on the other, and vice
versa," A'Hara said. "So FAA recommended that the [environmental
studies] help contribute to that decision."

The other plans prioritized are surface transportation projects in
Riverside County, Calif; Stillwater, Minn.; New Hampshire; Vermont;
Texas; and a single bridge project reaching across Kentucky, Indiana and
Ohio.


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