Green Build aims to transform airport
The San Diego International Airport’s $907 million Green Build — with its 10 new gates, easier access and revamped shopping hub — is set to open at Terminal 2 this month.
This construction project, the largest in the airport’s history, promises to expand and speed up air travel for all passengers at Lindbergh Field, including those using Terminal 1. And it will extend the life of the 85-year-old airport.
But it’s not the final chapter in a decades-long debate about how to solve the airport’s projected capacity crunch, and it hasn’t silenced all calls for building a new regional airport elsewhere.
Green Build doesn’t significantly upgrade the crowded Terminal 1 or add a second runway, leaving the overall facility as the busiest single-runway airport in the United States.
Less than a decade ago, the agency that governs Lindbergh Field called for a new regional airport at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, saying the downtown location would max out in space by 2022.
The county’s voters weighed in with Proposition A in 2006 — and overwhelmingly rejected the Miramar proposal. Shortly afterward, the economic downturn and greater airline efficiencies have extended Lindbergh Field’s “max out” date, though not indefinitely.
“The citizens of the county spoke. They decided they don’t want a new airport. The Green Build is really a response to that,” said Thella Bowens, CEO and president of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “We decided we must develop Lindbergh Field to its absolute potential.”
A grown-up airport
While Green Build is not the final vision for Lindbergh Field, it is a major upgrade that transportation officials said will buy time and ease congestion on the airport’s runway, roadways and security lines. They stressed that it will bolster efficiency and ultimately make the traveling experience more enjoyable.
All of the Green Build features are located at Terminal 2, which handles domestic and international flights. They include:
• 10 new airplane gates
• A larger security checkpoint
• An elevated road that separates arriving and departing traffic
• $6 million worth of public art
• A “pet relief” station, complete with fire hydrant
• A new terminal building with locally owned food, drink, entertainment and shopping retailers.
Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Sessom, who sits on the airport authority board, said Green Build will offer travelers “a visual delight,” with art features such as the 38,000 LED bulbs that make up an undulating blue ceiling element called “The Journey.”
The new terminal building called Sunset Cove will house vendors, including Stone Brewing Co., Pannikin Coffee & Tea and Phil’s BBQ. There will also be a wine bar, an entertainment stage and two day spas.
Along with those amenities, travelers can expect to save time. The new 12-lane security checkpoint — twice the number of lanes as its predecessor — and the new dual-level roadway “really make us a grown-up airport,” Sessom said.
Shorter security and ticket lines are likely for Terminal 1 as well, largely because United Airlines will move its flights to the expanded Terminal 2, airport officials said.
Green Build is also primed to shorten the time it takes planes to reach passenger gates, which means speedier takeoffs and landings. That’s accomplished by the addition of an overnight plane parking area at Terminal 2, eliminating the need for some planes to cross the runway to reach that terminal.
The tarmac that houses planes at the 10 new gates is built atop a former Navy and city landfill. The airport authority spent $45 million to remediate that site before construction started, said Katie Jones, a spokeswoman for the airport.
In late July, airport authority officials said Green Build was expected to cost a total of $907 million, including $87 million in finance charges. They said that sum is $45 million less than an earlier budget estimate, which pegged the overall expense at nearly $1 billion.
Officials credited low loan interest rates for part of the savings.
No local taxes are being used for Green Build, they said. The project is funded by user fees, airport revenue bonds, airport cash and grants from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Green Build concept dates to the 1990s, when half of Terminal 2 West was completed. The new project was designed as the mirror image of that $100 million first half.
Formal planning for Green Build took off following the 2006 airport vote, which returned the authority’s focus to Lindbergh Field. Officials said they had few alternatives for improving the existing airport other than expanding Terminal 2 first.
A revamp of Terminal 1, home to popular domestic carrier Southwest Airlines, would require the temporary closure of various gates and thus cause additional airport gridlock, they said.
At the time, Sessom said, the airport authority decided to focus on Terminal 2 because there was land available there for Green Build and because Terminal 1 had yet to reach the near-capacity levels it’s experiencing today.
Sessom also said Green Build allows Lindbergh Field to handle future growth while officials determine how best to enhance Terminal 1.
When the Great Recession hit, air travel slowed significantly. Lindbergh Field saw more than 1 million fewer passengers in 2009 compared with the year before, when the total count had already dipped to 16.9 million. Passenger counts have risen back above 17 million per year, but the growth is slow.
Also in the past few years, airlines have packed more passengers on each plane, reducing the number of flights in and out of Lindbergh Field.
These factors have helped push back Lindbergh Field’s “max out” date to between 2035 and 2040, said Keith Wilschetz, the airport’s planning director.
That’s assuming the airport achieves greater efficiencies beyond Green Build, through a revamp of Terminal 1. One option under that still-conceptual plan would move the terminal to the north side of the airport, away from its current Harbor Drive location, and connect it with a future transit hub and direct ramps from Interstate 5.
The fate of Terminal 1 rests largely on the Airport Development Plan, a document that will be up for a vote by the airport authority’s board by 2015.
Bill Lynch, a businessman in Rancho Santa Fe who served on the airport authority board in the early 2000s, said Green Build is a great addition to Lindbergh Field — but far from what the region will need decades from now.
He said current board members don’t want to publicly discuss other sites “because they don’t want to rile anyone up,” including the military.
“I’m here to say the only (long-term) answer is Miramar,” Lynch added.
Bruce Boland, a retired Navy rear admiral who led the push against a civilian airport at Miramar, has served on the airport authority board since December 2006. He said he’s confident that the downtown location can handle the county’s air travel for generations to come.
“I think we’ll see this as San Diego’s international airport as far into the future as you can look,” Boland said. “My grandchildren — some of them are pretty young — will be flying out of there.”
In contrast to Lynch, Boland said Lindbergh Field’s biggest problem before Green Build wasn’t the lack of a second runway, but the gridlock that planes experience once they land because of a lack of gates and overnight space. He also noted the traffic that motorists endured when accessing Terminal 2.
Green Build should solve both problems, he said.
The airlines, by increasing their efficiency, have helped address the airport’s capacity concerns for the time being.
By packing in more passengers on each plane, the number of flights has flattened out, Boland said.
Like it or not, transportation officials said, the airport authority that six years ago called for a new regional airport is stuck making the most of Lindbergh Field.
For members of the authority’s board such as San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond, a commercial pilot who supported the move to Miramar, there’s no point in looking beyond Lindbergh Field. He and other officials emphasize that there are no searches underway for any alternative airport site.
“It’s not even on the radar,” Desmond said.