A preview of the environmental impact report of the first phase of Lindbergh Field’s master plan has revealed the first glimpse at plans for a 10-gate terminal expansion, a new hangar and an intermodal transit center (ITC) among other improvements designed to improve customer mobility and operational efficiency of the airport.
The plans were presented to the San Diego Airport Authority’s board on Sept. 6. But communication between the Airport Authority and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and the city of San Diego must improve if the board wants to keep Lindbergh Field as a viable airport in the coming years, said Airport Authority chair Alan Bersin.
“Without the collaboration of all those agencies the goal is not achievable,” Bersin said.
The Airport Authority board heard reports about possible configurations of the ITC ” the first step on a long road toward optimizing Lindbergh Field.
The report painted a picture of the airport with nearly a dozen more gates at Terminal Two West, the construction of an overnight aircraft-parking apron, accompanying roadways and parking structures.
The report also looked at three possible ground transportation configurations to and from an ITC that would be located in the northeast end of the airport near Pacific Highway.
One alternative presents a bus road wrapping around from the north on the east side of the airport along Pacific Highway to Harbor Drive. This plan would require right-of-way easements through San Diego Port District-owned land.
A second alternative would have the bus system start from the northeast end, wrapping around the west side of the terminal
A third and more costly alternative would run the road under the runway from the ITC to a drop-off site on the south end.
The transit center would include ticket and luggage kiosks and would run a single bus system with a dedicated transit corridor and MTS bus and trolley stations.
The Airport Authority is scheduled to release a draft of the environmental impact report for this phase of the airport’s master plan toward the end of September, Bersin said. The public will have 120 days to review and comment on the report. A final draft is set for release in February, according to the report.
“This is only one phase of work that has to go on for the next twenty years,” Bersin said.
However, in order to maintain the long-term viability of the San Diego International Airport into the next 20 years, the governing bodies will have to cooperate like never before, he said. Up to this point, the communication between the SANDAG, MTS, the City and Airport Authority officials has been “uneven,” Bersin said.
To make strides in the right direction, District Four Councilman Anthony Young suggested at the meeting that the Airport Authority meet with MTS and SANDAG officials to discuss how the plans from the various agencies interrelate.
“A presentation to MTS or SANDAG is simply not going to be enough,” Young said.
Bersin said the board plans to hear staff reports next month on how to facilitate better cooperation with the various agencies.
To heighten communication between the Airport Authority and the Peninsula community the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s Airport Committee planned to host a meeting Sept. 12 in Boney Hall at Point Nazarene University. On Sept. 6, PCPB Airport Committee Chair Suhail Kahlil publicly invited Bersin to attend the Sept. 12 meeting answer questions from the community about airport issues.
But while the boards meet to discuss the issues, Peninsula and community residents deal with those issues daily as they unfold.
Lance Murphy, a Peninsula Community Planning Board representative to the Airport Noise Advisory Committee, said by the time the Airport Authority finishes construction of this phase of the plan, Lindbergh Field will be operating at near full capacity.
He told the board that previous drafts of the airport master plan didn’t take into consideration indirect impacts on the community: vehicle traffic, noise and airplane safety issues.
Murphy said increasing capacity in the coming years increases the chance of potentially fatal accidents in the future, especially on a runway as unique as the one at San Diego International Airport.
“I just have a problem when you max it out on a single runway. That gets unsafe,” he said.
According to Murphy, Lindbergh Field is the busiest single runway in the U.S. and the second-busiest in the world, surpassed only by the BAA Gatwick Airport in London. The Peninsula’s geography limits expansion of the runways, leaving few alternatives he said. He said one of the important issues for Peninsula residents is to make sure the possible transit center is appropriately planned and adequately funded.
At the meeting the Airport Authority also passed a motion to approve an amended Senate Bill 10.
Introduced by Sen. Christine Kehoe, SB 10 would keep planning responsibilities with the Airport Authority but provide for SANDAG to review future plans before formal adoption. In addition, it would include members from California Department of Transportation and state Lands Commissioner as representatives to the Airport Authority board.
The bill would require the authority to prepare a regional aviation strategic plan to identify “workable strategies to improve the performance of the San Diego County regional airport system,” according to language in the bill.