Bay Area Flight Plan: The New Regional Airport System Plan

Amidst controversy over proposals for expanded runways at San Francisco International Airport, the Regional Airport Planning Committee (RAPC) has almost finished updating the Regional Airport System Plan (RASP) to the year 2020. The committee is made up of representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). The updated Plan will become the airport element of MTC's Regional Transportation Plan and will assist BCDC in making permit decisions when airport changes affect the Bay shoreline.

The San Francisco International (SFO) runway expansion proposal is the latest in a series of moves by Bay Area airports to address capacity needs in response to the region's growth. San Jose (SJO) is currently adding capacity, and within the timeframe of the new RASP, Oakland (OAK) will also need to increase runway space. (See January/February 1999 issue.) The RASP process has been considering a range of strategies to meet the region's growing demand for airport capacity, while acknowledging the need to minimize additional impacts on the environment and mitigate noise and pollution for neighboring communities. Discussion has included adding limited commercial service at general aviation airports, now used for private aircraft, converting military airfields to commercial use, or shifting flights from one airport to another.

The primary conclusions and recommendations presented to RAPC in mid-July provided no clear-cut answers to the difficult choices facing the region. As expressed in the draft Plan, "the choices concerning runway improvements are essentially choices between: a) serving projected demand through system expansion, b) tolerating increasing airport delays in favor of protecting the environment beyond that which may be achieved through mitigation, or c) limiting air passenger choices through flight restrictions that attempt to achieve a better balance between demand and capacity."

The draft Plan indicates that system expansion must continue to be an option. "After examination of a range of alternatives to construction of new runways, our analysis does not reveal a strategy, or set of strategies, that can adequately close the gap between demand and capacity by 2020, " said the report. "Nevertheless, we should continue to monitor developments that may change these conclusions in the future."

While new runway construction would improve reliability, it would not totally eliminate delays by 2020, particularly in bad weather, according to the draft Plan. In addition, "there remain a number of significant technical and environmental issues that still need to be resolved before a decision to increase runway capacity can be supported at SFO and/or OAK." Therefore, the Plan recommends an ongoing approach rather than specific actions: continued environmental analysis of expansions at SFO and OAK, continued indication of interest in future commercial use of current military airports, and maintaining an effective reliever airport network through support of general aviation airports.

As next steps, the Plan includes a number of suggestions for actions which could be taken by RAPC, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the airports, and other entities:

• development of a regional program on overflight noise, including a database to track noise trends and assist in developing potential solutions
• a periodic joint meeting of the local noise roundtables to consider regionwide noise impacts and solutions
• review of flight routes to determine if certain communities bear an undue burden
• possible redesign of Bay Area airspace by NASA and FAA, taking advantage of a possible global positioning system (GPS) navigational system, to minimize noise and airspace conflicts
• determination of needed resources for a monitoring study of air quality around airports by the regional and state air boards
• identification of improvements to airport transportation access, including ferries
• another review by the RAPC Scientific Panel of the status of the Bay resource issues analysis done for the RASP planning process.

The draft Plan also identified key considerations which must be addressed for any runway expansion involving Bay fill, including runway design issues which could affect the amount of fill, and noise and airspace impacts due to reconfiguration of flight routes.

The goals of the new RASP are to:

• Provide a safe and reliable air transportation system. This includes supporting the use of new air traffic control technology.
• Seek solutions to long-term airport system capacity needs. Solutions should be efficient and realistic, include a full range of options, allow permanent closure of any existing runways only after careful analysis, and preserve and enhance the capability of the region's general aviation airports.
• Identify and address key environmental concerns through minimization of Bay fill, adequately detailed mitigation plans, sustainable reductions in aircraft noise and air pollution, environmental analysis of both local and regional impacts from increased aviation activity, and seismic safety..
• Provide effective surface access to airports. Specific mention is made of transit and ridesharing, for both passengers and airport employees.

While the recent update incorporates new analyses and information which will help RAPC address these goals, it is not complete. Extensive modeling is still taking place to create additional information which will help guide future decisions. The new Plan, when adopted, will provide a better map of where those decisions may lead, but it will not tell the region which road or destination is best. Some important choices must be made by RAPC and the boards of its member agencies. The results will significantly affect the region's economic and environmental future.

Chris Brittle, MTC, 510-464-7700

Patricia Perry, ABAG, 510-464-7900

Jeff Blanchfield, BCDC, 415-352-3654