Lambert Airport Expansion Taxis Toward FAA Approval

<B> Lambert Airport Expansion Taxis Toward FAA Approval</B>

By Robert Selwitz

A massive $2.6 billion expansion plan for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is nearly cleared to proceed, now that the Federal Aviation Administration has issued a favorable record of decision.

The only remaining stumbling blocks to the expansion are federal and state lawsuits filed by some 2,000 home and business owners whose properties lie in the project's path.

The airport is confident that the lawsuits aimed at halting the project will fail, said Lambert spokesman Michael Donnatt, who called the record of decision the final "stamp of approval by FAA."

A new 12,000-foot runway is the plan's most important facet. Construction on Lambert's third runway is slated to begin in 2001 with an opening projected for 2004. Lambert then will have two runways that can be used during stormy weather.

At present, since Lambert's current pair are closer than the 3,400-foot separation that FAA requires for parallel instrument landings, the facility is effectively restricted to one usable runway during inclement periods.

Other project benefits include an increase from the 516,000 takeoffs and landings and approximately 27 million passengers handled in 1997 to a projected 632,000 takeoffs and landings, and some 42 million passengers in 2005; and an increase in airline gates from today's 81 to 105. Also in the plan are at least 6,000 new parking spaces, access roadway improvements, additions and extensions to Lambert's two prime existing runways, and extensions to concourse A of the main terminal.

"Passengers should really appreciate the spreading out of traffic, not just on concourse A but on C and D that serve TWA. We know that today things can get pretty crowded on those concourses," Donnatt said. He emphasized that Lambert's growth scheme should resolve its most pressing congestion and delay situations.

As detailed in Lambert's master plan, "the existing airfield and terminal facilities cannot handle the projected growth without unacceptably long delays and passenger inconvenience. Lambert's current status as a delay-problem airport places the St. Louis region at a disadvantage.