"Expansion at Bush Intercontinental brings high anxiety"

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Growth brings high anxiety
Airport's neighbors watch warily as officials review runway proposals
By JOE STINEBAKER
The Houston (TX) Chronicle


Neighbors of Bush Intercontinental Airport are watching nervously as airport
officials get ready to choose a master plan next month to guide expansion
over the next 20 years.

At least two, and possibly three, runways will be added to the five now
serving the airport. The new runways would help airport officials absorb an
expected 70 percent increase in the number of takeoffs and landings between
2004 and 2025.

Although none of the six expansion alternatives has been selected, it
appears at least one runway will run parallel with the airport's two
northernmost runways, which run east-west just below FM 1960. Any new
runways could be built between the existing ones or moved north - expanding
the airport north of FM 1960 for the first time.
 
Another runway could be built alongside the airport's two current
north-south runways, which run just east of Aldine Westfield Road.

Each new runway is expected to cost about $500 million.

Any of the proposals, and especially those calling for expansion north of FM
1960, will likely attract opposition from residents in the area. Many
residents are still licking their wounds after battling airport officials
over smaller expansions only two years ago.

Residents of Foxwood and Northshire neighborhoods north and east of the
airport say they are automatically suspicious of any expansion plans,
especially those to the north.

For now, the neighbors are reviewing the six proposals, which were unveiled
in late February.

With the proposals now available for inspection, the process of selecting
one and moving ahead with expansion is beginning to speed up.

"Up to now, everything's been kind of quiet because there hasn't really been
anything people could sink their teeth into," said Kent McLemore, the
assistant director of the city's Aviation Department. McLemore has been in
charge of managing the planning for the airport's expansion. He has been the
city's point man at a series of public meetings on expansion options.

Growth projections

McLemore said the airport handled 517,000 takeoffs and landings in 2004, but
will probably see as many as 880,000 by 2025. Growth like that, he said,
means likely delays at peak hours within five years and "acute" delays
throughout the day within 15 years. 

"We will definitely need a new runway in the next five to six years,"
McLemore said. "It'll probably be seven years before we can get the runway
built, and by that point we will probably be experiencing delays at peak
periods."

McLemore said the airport's consultants - DMJM Aviation Inc. and Reynolds
Smith & Hills Inc. - will recommend a "preferred alternative" to the
airport's management staff and an oversight committee, which will then
select a proposal by the end of next month. That proposal may then need some
"tweaking," he said, and will be unveiled in August.

Then begins the process of environmental studies, potential land acquisition
and fending off expected legal challenges. It will be several years,
McLemore said, before any ground is broken.

And if that expansion moves north of FM 1960, McLemore said, airport
officials expect even more opposition.

Several options under consideration have runways built either north of FM
1960 or across it, requiring the road to be rerouted. Airport officials
would either have to build a new terminal in the area or build large bridges
over FM 1960 for a "very long taxi distance" to the existing terminals,
McLemore said.

"Both of those are strikes against those scenarios," he said.

Expansion opponents

Hank Husky, a resident of the Northshire neighborhood just northeast of the
airport, formed CHARGE (Coalition of Homeowner Alliances Requiring
Government Equity) to oppose a smaller airport expansion in 2003. 

Husky said he thinks airport officials are being a little more open with
neighboring residents about this expansion because of the opposition two
years ago.

CHARGE opposes any expansion of Bush, Hobby and Ellington airports unless
money is included to control noise increases and to reimburse neighboring
property owners for any damage resulting from the expansion, including
losses in property values, Husky said.

And any expansion north of FM 1960, he said, is likely to meet much stiffer
opposition.

   . Six plans: The six runway expansion proposals are available at the
Houston Airport System's Web site at http://web.houstonairportsystem.org/ 
iahmasterplan/frame.htm.

Attached Graphic:

Bush Expansion Plans

b-runway.jpg