=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/chronicle/archive/2002/12= /02/BA185818.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, December 2, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Oakland airport cuts back on expansion/Economy, security issues throw wrenc= h into plans Rick DelVecchio, Chronicle Staff Writer Oakland -- Economic turmoil and new air-security measures after Sept. 11 have forced officials to scale down plans for a $1.4 billion expansion of Oakland International Airport. A smaller project, designed to make it easier to park and check in for a flight, goes to the Port Commission for a vote in December or January. Port officials say their goal is to provide quick relief for the airport= 's two major hassles: not enough parking and not enough room in the Southwest Airlines terminal. The scaled-down project's $425 million cost is split between a new, seve= n- story, 6,000-slot parking garage and an expansion of Terminal 2, which primarily serves Southwest. The terminal will be expanded by five boarding gates plus a new baggage handling system, security gates and seismic reinforcement. The work is supposed to restore convenience and comfort to the airport by early 2006. Construction on the garage will start next fall. "Our airport is designed for 7.5 million passengers, and we're pushing 13 (million)," said Port Commissioner Phil Tagami, who heads the board's aviation committee. "We're on top of each other." The big change is that port officials, along with airport planners across the nation, are dealing with the crowding problem in steps instead of in one leap, in order to deal with anti-terrorism issues. Oakland Port engineers are offering the first of the expansion that had been polished up just a month before Sept. 11. With a central ticketing area, 12 more gates and a double-decker traffic loop, that plan had been estimated to cost almost $1.4 billion. Separately, BART plans an extension to the airport by 2008. After the terrorist attacks, engineers had to plan room for passenger and cargo security equipment, including trailer-size explosive detection machines. And at a time when the industry was in turmoil, they had to guess how much space airlines would need. Planners decided to put off most of the expansion while moving faster to help the airport's key tenant, Southwest Airlines. The carrier's growth, combined with the government's caution over security, made for sardine-like conditions in the terminal. Port officials say they will eventually complete their pre-Sept. 11 plans for an airport big enough to handle 18 million passengers a year with room to spare, 50 percent more than the current level. Oakland ranked first in North America and ninth in the world in passenger growth between 2000 and 2001, according to Airports International. The story behind the airport's 7.5 percent growth rate was the popularity of nonstop flights to the East Coast, which now run a dozen a day, and to Mexico and Hawaii. This year, passenger traffic has grown each month, said spokeswoman Cyndy Johnson. Airport officials want Oakland to host nonstop flights to Asia and are looking for carriers to provide them. Officials also are under increasing scrutiny from neighboring communities, where aircraft noise is a daily headache, and from the port's board room, where expansion proponents have been grilled over the cost of their plans. Under a settlement of the noise issue, community members will take part = in airport planning. Under an understanding leveled with the board, administrative costs will be kept down. In an effort to speed the schedule and save money, the port will use one prime builder. The decision to shift from seven to nine separate contractors to one has been controversial because some businesses have felt they would be cut out. They won't be, said the port's director of engineering, Joseph Wong. "I don't think anybody's getting kicked out of the game," he said. The change is designed to trim project management costs while sharing the construction work with local businesses. "If we're going to change the culture, we have to create new rules of engagement," Tagami said. "The culture of the industry, the culture of the bureaucracy and of the consultants and some of the constituents has been conditioned over 30 years of practice. We've changed the rules." Under the board's review, the cost of the all-in-one expansion shelved after Sept. 11 went from $1.9 billion to about $1.4 billion. Planning and design costs already laid out for the expansion run to $50 million since 1998, including $11 million so far to management consultants JTB Airport Alliance. "I don't think we've wasted any money," Wong said. "A lot of the product will continue to be refined." E-mail Rick DelVecchio at rdelvecchio@sfchronicle.com.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle