"Proposed Oregon runway expansion gets noisy reaction"

Friday, January 14, 2005

Proposed runway expansion gets noisy reaction
The Associated Press


PORTLAND, Ore. - Vancouver residents are protesting a proposed runway
expansion at Portland International Airport, saying the extension will
increase the airport's capacity causing more noise pollution.

The half-mile extension is intended to give the airport two runways for
transoceanic flight takeoffs. Right now, only the 11,000-foot-long south
runway is able to handle the departures.

Residents charge that the extension will be too noisy for people living
north of Portland in Vancouver, as well as Hayden Island and Bridgeton.

Port of Portland Aviation Maintenance Manager Fletcher Hunt told the
Citizens Noise Advisory Committee that the lack of a backup runway means
repairs of the existing one can only be done in bits and pieces _ with
construction crews setting up to work, then cleaning up in order to allow
the runway to be used. That is slowing construction by roughly 40 percent,
he said.

The south runway is currently being rehabilitated, a process that is
expected to take as long as five summers _ a project that could be completed
in a single year if a second runway was available.

Hunt also stressed that the expansion is not intended to increase the
airport's capacity.

Committee member Gary Thornton, who represents Vancouver, called that
"doublespeak."

"You will have bigger and louder planes and continue the assault of
Vancouver," he said.

"To extend the runway is to extend the noise," said another Vancouver
resident Robert Tice at a public information session Thursday.

Aviation authorities are holding three more public information sessions in
Vancouver, Hayden Island and Fairview.

The Port Commission will make a final recommendation on the runway extension
on May 11. In June, the report will be submitted to the Federal Aviation
Administration for six months of review.


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