"Cost of expanding LAX likely to exceed $9 billion price tag"

Monday, August 11, 2003

Cost of expanding LAX likely to exceed $9 billion price tag 
The Associated Press


LOS ANGELES (AP) - The cost of expanding and remodeling Los Angeles
International Airport is likely to exceed its $9 billion price tag once
dozens of projects proposed by Mayor James Hahn to reduce the effects of the
construction are added, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

In a 5,323-page environmental study conducted for the mayor's $9 billion
airport modernization plan, proposals to compensate for increased traffic,
noise and pollution include reconfiguring roads and intersections around the
airport, building new park-and-ride centers, conducting noise studies and
relocating endangered species.

However, the estimated costs of the dozens of projects proposed are absent
from the 11-volume environmental study, the Times reported Sunday. Such
mitigation measures are required by state and federal law to lessen the
impact of construction.

The $9 billion estimate to overhaul the aging airport also does not include
the cost of moving 6,000 people out of their homes and buying the remaining
houses and apartment buildings in a Westchester neighborhood where Hahn
wants to build a new passenger check-in center.

Nor does the price tag include the financing costs of the airport expansion,
such as interest and insurance on revenue bonds, the Times reported.

Hahn is already facing skepticism from airlines, residents and business
groups that question whether his plan is necessary to make LAX more secure
and efficient. The disclosure that the $9 billion estimate may not represent
the true cost of overhauling the airport has added to their concerns.

"The number is already so huge that the airlines are unbelievably
concerned," said Kelley Brown, an airline consultant. "The airlines also
know in situations like this at airports it's not unusual for costs to rise
as time goes on."

Hahn envisions a dramatically redesigned Los Angeles airport. He would like
to demolish three terminals and build an offsite passenger drop-off and
pick-up site from which travelers would ride an elevated train about a mile
to their flights.

The mayor released the environmental study for his airport expansion plan on
July 9 and will hold hearings on the document starting Monday.


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