Buses Key to Reducing Airport Smog

More travelers may be taking buses to and from Los Angeles International Airport as part of a 10-year plan aimed at dramatically reducing automobile and aircraft pollution.

Airport officials called the $300-million proposal--approved Wednesday by the city Board of Airport Commissioners--a broad blueprint aimed at slashing airport-generated air pollutants by 20% over the next decade.

No money has yet been allocated for much of the program--including $140 million earmarked to build three remote terminals where travelers would leave their cars and ride buses to the airport.

But officials predict that, if traffic congestion and pollution worsen, airport revenues or other funds will be allocated for the satellite “Fly Away” bus terminals and many other projects outlined in the proposal--including new or improved roadways aimed at getting vehicles in and out of the airport faster and more efficiently.

The city is under pressure from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to come up with stiffer anti-smog regulations in exchange for millions of dollars in sewer grants.

The airport plan was drafted at the request of Mayor Tom Bradley, who has also ordered the Harbor Department and the Department of Water & Power to develop similar proposals.

Airport officials calculate that the 1,600 aircraft that land or take off at the airport on a typical day account for only about 15% of the 14,000 tons of air pollutants generated by the airport in a year.

Ground vehicles, mostly automobiles and buses, are believed to generate about 80% of the pollutants.

In 1986--the last year for which figures are available--about 65,000 vehicles a day entered the central terminal area.

Much of the remaining pollution comes from the airport’s own power generating plant.

The department’s plan calls for several major projects to cut vehicle emissions by 690 tons, primarily by keeping cars away from the airport and decreasing the time that vehicles spend trapped in traffic and at stoplights.

The most costly project calls for building three satellite bus terminals, like the 13-year-old Fly Away service at the city’s Van Nuys airport, where passengers can park and take a bus to airport terminals.

The Van Nuys service, consisting of six buses operated by a private company under contract to the airport, carried about 664,000 passengers last year.

Looking for Money

Officials said the airport currently has no money for the satellite terminals, which could be constructed as far away as Orange County. But if traffic congestion in the Los Angeles area continues to worsen and pressures mount on city officials to adopt tougher measures to clean up the air, construction “will probably have to be done,” said Donald Miller, the airport’s deputy executive director.

Airport Executive Director Clifton Moore speculated that the airlines might be asked to assist in funding or operating the bus terminals.

In the past, several U.S. airlines have attempted to reduce airport congestion by operating similar bus terminals, even allowing travelers to check their baggage there. However, they proved unpopular and were shut down.

Other proposals aimed at speeding traffic through the airport area include a major east-west highway to be built on the airport’s north side; more exits from the airport’s central parking lots, and construction of a 96th Street overpass above Sepulveda Boulevard.

The latter project is being designed by city engineers and will be under construction within two or three years, according to Maurice Laham, the airport’s chief environmental officer. It would allow shuttle vans and other vehicles to go from a major remote parking lot directly to terminals without encountering traffic signals.

To cut aircraft emissions, the proposal calls for spending $22 million to renovate airport taxiways and runway exits. The project would eliminate 1,887 tons of pollutants by cutting the average time an aircraft spends idling on taxiways from 16 minutes to 9, Laham said.

To further reduce aircraft pollution, the plan calls for each of the airport’s 100 terminal gates to be fitted with an electric power system. This would allow aircraft to turn off the jet-fueled auxiliary power systems that keep a plane’s ventilation system operating while it is on the ground.

Already, 25 of the gates have been renovated at a cost of $300,000 each, Laham said. When all the gates have the systems installed, it is estimated that air pollutants could be cut by as much as 60 tons annually, he said.

Yet another proposal calls for airport employees to work a four-day week.

The proposals will undoubtedly come under close scrutiny from community groups near the airport before public hearings begin early next year on how much the airport should be allowed to grow.

In the past, community representatives have been critical of the airport’s efforts to curb pollution as its operations expanded.