Neighbors fume over LAX plan to redesign runways
— -- Los Angeles International Airport is by far the nation's worst commercial airport for dangerous near-collisions between aircraft on the ground, but attempts to fix the problem have run into powerful political opposition.
The solution at the airport with four parallel runways nestled against the Pacific Ocean is straightforward, according to federal aviation regulators and reports by safety experts. They say runways on the north side of the airport should be moved farther apart.
That plan has infuriated the airport's neighbors, who cite concerns over pollution, noise and decimation of businesses.
As accidents at airports have become a larger share of commercial plane crashes, federal regulators are increasingly pushing for safer airport designs that minimize chances of ground collisions and crashes off the ends of runways.
But, as the clash in Los Angeles exemplifies, it's not always easy for airports to get approval for changes, even when they are designed to make critical safety improvements. Similar attempts at safety enhancements have run into trouble at dozens of airports across the country.
"It has played out over any number of airports and it represents a real challenge," says Jane Garvey, former chief of the Federal Aviation Administration who also served as head of Boston's Logan International Airport.
"Airport directors have to balance the very real issues around safety with community concerns," Garvey says.
Activists in the neighborhoods north of the airport — who for decades have had an uneasy relationship with the nation's fifth-busiest airfield — say they do not accept the arguments that the current airport design needs fixing.
"The airport has held several meetings with the public to try to convince everyone that there is a safety problem on the north side of the airport," says Denny Schneider, president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion. "They failed."
Clashes at other airports
Similar debates are playing out at other airports.
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