8/26/2000
To read SAND's comment letter of 4/99 regarding Massport's proposed Logan Expansion Plan click here.
- This story ran on page A15 of the Boston Globe on 8/26/2000.
- © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
- Logan runway takes us nowhere
- By James Aloisi, 8/26/2000
- Recent reports disclosing that former transportation secretary Fred
- Salvucci and Massport officials were exploring a compromise on the
- proposed new runway at Logan Airport provoked a firm rebuke from local
- activists. The compromise under consideration - that the runway would be
- used only during certain weather conditions - was flatly rejected by a
- leading runway opponent. And well it should have been.
- The principal argument against compromise is this: The enormous,
- costly, and unprecedented effort that has been made to secure federal
- and local approval for the new runway has failed to build the kind of
- political or civic consensus necessary to justify this significant
- expansion of the region's largest airport. Runway proponents have had
- ample opportunity to make their case, and they have failed. It's time
- for a fundamentally different approach to solving the congestion problem
- and for a moratorium on regional airport expansion.
- A moratorium on regional expansion may seem extreme, but there can be
- no successful long-term solution to the problem of air travel delays
- without the kind of fresh, outside-the-box thinking that a moratorium
- would promote. Our state and region are leaders in the new economy,
- nurturing ideas that are on the cutting edge of innovation. Why, then,
- are we turning to a decades-old proposal to solve the problem of air
- travel delay? The idea that you can solve delays at Logan by adding
- capacity on an already crowded airfield is just as misguided and
- destined to failure as the decades old idea that you can solve auto
- traffic congestion by increasing highway capacity. It never worked with
- automobile traffic, and it won't work for air traffic.
- Adding a short takeoff and landing runway across the airport's two
- large parallel runways has always been the wrong answer to the problem.
- This issue must be addressed with the same foresight that led to the
- development of the Quabbin Reservoir, the building of the Massachusetts
- Turnpike, and the construction fo the Central Artery/Tunnel Project.
- The solution, in other words, must last for generations. Even
- proponents of the runway admit that it is at best a short-term fix for a
- fundamental supply/demand/capacity problem. Compromising on this
- inadequate solution leaves the tough and necessary decision making for
- another day. Why wait?
- A moratorium would enable stakeholders and planners to undertake a
- focused effort to discuss and resolve the issue of air travel delay in a
- comprehensive manner. To her credit and unlike her recent predecessors,
- Massport's executive director, Virginia Buckingham, seems genuinely
- committed to seeking out regional air travel solutions, but that alone
- is not enough.
- The discussion that must take place should consider such issues as the
- importance of improved regional rail connections (including a high-speed
- inland route across Massachusetts and through Vermont), the
- ramifications of the decisions to abandon the existing air facilities at
- Fort Devens and South Weymouth, the costs associated with necessary
- improved ground transportation, and the practicality of making Logan the
- region's truly national and international facility, leaving most
- regional connections to other facilities.
- The discussion must consider the land use, noise pollution, and
- transportation access implications of airport expansion, carefully
- evaluating mobility needs throughout New England and making thoughtful
- and informed choices.
- Finally, if one rationale for the runway is that it is necessary to
- support the business community, the discussion must explore solutions
- that anticipate changes in the ways in which business is conducted.
- The business office is a dynamic environment where face-to-face
- meetings are increasingly rare and unnecessary. If the airline industry
- made the world small in the 20th century, the power of 21st century
- technology is making the need to travel to conduct
- business obsolete. Few business people choose to waste precious time
- running from distant airport to inner city and back again to do what can
- be done by tele- and video-conferencing.
- Boston's air travel delay problem is not unique. Delays have become a
- national concern and are caused by a variety of factors that often have
- nothing to do with wind conditions.
- The most compelling argument against building the runway - even a
- compromise wind-restricted runway - is that it is a fundamentally
- inadequate solution that has been developed in a policy vacuum. If it is
- built, we will still be searching for solutions to congestion and delay
- 10 years from now. The runway has become the path of least resistance.
- Identifying and implementing effective long-term solutions is the more
- difficult path. We can take that path now or we can avoid it and leave
- the hard choices to the next generation. A moratorium now will start us
- on a journey that must be taken.
- James Aloisi was assistant state transportation secretary and general
- counsel to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority from
- 1987 to 1996.
- This story ran on page A15 of the Boston Globe on 8/26/2000.
- © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
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