Airport's big plans ready to soar
Sacramento International's largest expansion ever on track to start this summer
By Tony Bizjak - tbizjak@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, January 17, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1
After years of preparation, Sacramento International Airport officials find themselves on the verge of what they call a historic event – their biggest airport expansion ever.
The $1.3 billion plan includes a four-story central terminal, satellite concourse, people mover, hotel tower and multistory garage.
Despite recent federal concerns about construction in the flood-prone area, officials say they are on track to start in summer.
Airports director Hardy Acree spoke Wednesday with The Bee:
Q: First, this flood issue sounds tricky. How do you avoid the potential construction moratorium Natomas is facing?
A: We're on schedule for (approval) in May to award the construction contracts. If that occurs before the Federal Emergency Management Agency does the flood remapping, we are good to go. We intend to get under construction sometime in early July.
Q: What if there is a flood someday?
A: Our Achilles' heel is the runways. As soon as an inch of water gets on the runways, we are closed down. We don't have planes with pontoons. We're conducting a 'continuity of operations' plan right now: In the unlikely event of a catastrophic levee breach, where might we reconstitute operations on a limited basis? (We're) looking at both Mather and McClellan (fields).
Q: Why expand the airport now?
A: The question could be, 'Why didn't you do it sooner?' We have facilities that have outlived their useful life. They are obsolete and grossly undersized. Air transportation is expected to grow significantly over the next 20 years.
Q: You'll be knocking Terminal B down. Besides being drab, what are its inadequacies?
A: It opened in 1967. The security checkpoints, baggage claim and (passenger) hold areas are undersized. Airports have become business enterprises (relying on retail shops, parking revenues). At B, we see so many lost revenue-generating opportunities.
Q: The new central terminal is four stories tall with escalators. Why go so vertical?
A: We don't have a lot of land available for a terminal. That was one of the issues: Why don't we just build another (terminal) A? But A is a 'unit' terminal, self-contained with its own baggage claim. We don't have adequate real estate to plop down unit terminals (during future expansions).
Q: So the new terminal's boarding gates will be on a satellite concourse out in the airfield, connected by an elevated people mover. Why not an underground walkway, like at O'Hare in Chicago?
A: We looked at that. We couldn't. The water table is (high), so it's more cost-effective to go above ground. I don't know of anybody who doesn't love an airport people mover.
Q: The planned double-decker road at the new terminal looks like the big, crowded airports. Aren't you going to lose some of your 'easy in, easy out' flow?
A: No. In fact, it will complement the 'easy come, easy go' philosophy. Now, as the A roadway becomes congested, people can't get into the curb. A two-level roadway more than doubles our capacity.
Q: The architecture gives a sense of Sacramento, right?
A: Yes. Rivers identify us. The Delta breeze, the tree canopies, the mountains, the valley, the railroads. All are things we tried to capture in the architecture.
Q: You're tossing in some old-growth redwood?
A: We're reusing some of the history of Sacramento County! It's an old (1921) wooden trestle bridge (the county) demolished. We'll use it in the ceiling and add some warmth to the facility because it is predominantly glass and steel with hard terrazzo floors.
Q: You're putting a 186-room hotel tower with restaurant right on top of the terminal. Why there?
A: It offers a higher level of customer service. They can literally get out of their room, go to the restaurant, check out and go right to their plane.
Q: How did you design for security in the post-9/11 era?
A: We think we have adequate space. You design for maximum flexibility for what might be.
Q: Regional Transit is a long way from being able to extend light rail to the airport, but we see you've left a corridor for it?
A: We recognize at some point Regional Transit is going to extend light rail to the airport. We support that. I see it as a marketing tool, an alternative for the public along the Interstate 80 corridor. They can take the Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento, connect on light rail to the airport. They don't have to drive in to San Francisco.
Q: There's another concern for drivers; Interstate 5 is supposed to get congested soon.
A: I-5 is a constraint right now. There are times we hear of a crash, we call the airlines and say you are going to have late customers because I-5 is closed or constrained.
Q: How much inconvenience will people face during construction?
A: There may be road closures and limiting lanes from time to time. There is going to be pile-driving. But it shouldn't result in us saying, 'Add an hour to your time at the airport to get through the maze of construction.' One of the advantages (of the terminal location) is it allows us to build the central terminal, the … concourse and the (people mover) while we continue to operate out of A and B. We may lose a couple of gates at points.
*as if you haven't seen these already*
An artist's rendering of the four-story central terminal, as seen from the third floor.
The terminal's boarding gates will be on a satellite concourse in the airfield,
connected by an elevated people mover.
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