L.A. commission awards $80.9 million to plan expansion, modernization of LAX

Plans to expand and modernize Los Angeles International Airport advanced Friday when airport commissioners approved $80.9 million in contracts for engineering and architectural services.

The board awarded three-year contracts of $41.5 million to Fentress Architects and $39.4 million to Hatch Mott MacDonald for engineering, planning and design work, bringing the total spent on consultants for the modernization program to $260 million during the past decade.

“This is crucial,” said Alan Rothenberg, president of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. “It is the first step to get us into the 21st century.”

Fentress and Hatch Mott MacDonald have each worked on large infrastructure projects worth billions of dollars, including airports in the United States and overseas. They will team up with DMJM Aviation Inc., a Tampa, Fla., company that received a $25-million contract in March to manage airport modernization projects.

LAX is planning an estimated $5 billion to $8 billion in improvements to runways, taxiways, and terminals to handle increases in passengers and larger commercial aircraft, such as the Airbus A380, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and new versions of the Boeing 747.

The projects include a midfield concourse with new gates, a taxiway from the north side of the airport to the south side, and renovating the Tom Bradley International Terminal, including the addition of gates by January 2012.

Airport officials caution that the actual number of projects and amount spent could change depending on the financial health of the airline industry, which is undergoing a period of bankruptcies and mergers.

Before awarding the current architecture and engineering contracts, the airport had spent about $148.5 million for consultants with expertise in engineering, planning, environmental analysis, public relations, and management.

The contracts reflect work undertaken during three administrations going back to Mayor Richard Riordan, each with its own views and ambitions for the development of LAX.

Riordan’s plan, for example, called for 89 million passengers a year, while Mayor James K. Hahn’s plan was designed for 78.5 million passengers – a figure still mentioned by the Villaraigosa Administration. LAX now handles about 61 million passengers a year.

dan.weikel@latimes.com