Lindbergh Needs a Short-Term Fix : But search for new site should be pressed before spending $289 million or more

It’s hard to argue with much of what Lindbergh Field’s many critics have to say. The downtown airport is in the wrong place for a growing metropolis, making for some white-knuckle flying past city skyscrapers. The single runway is uncomfortably short, maybe dangerously so. The noise created by takeoffs over Point Loma and Loma Portal is horrendous.

In short, Lindbergh has to be moved. We all know it.

But, even if city leaders picked a site tomorrow, there would be no new airport for at least a decade, probably more. That’s why Lindbergh must be expanded to handle passenger traffic that is expected to steadily increase over the next decade. The continued growth of San Diego’s economy also demands it.

That leaves the question of how much expansion is necessary. For now, the $27-million emergency plan already adopted by the Port District appears adequate. We see no reason for the port to leap ahead with either of two very expensive expansion plans that would take Lindbergh into the early part of next century, and in the process take the urgency out of the new effort to create a binational airport on Otay Mesa.

The interim plan now being implemented would take care of Lindbergh’s most critical needs. It would move the leaking fuel tanks that supply Lindbergh’s jets, increasing fuel storage capacity limited by Lindbergh’s cramped configuration. That would take trucks that must constantly replenish Lindbergh’s one-day fuel supply off Harbor Drive. It would add eight passenger gates and baggage claim areas. It would build a better access route to Harbor Drive.

Those improvements would allow Lindbergh to accommodate about 16.5 million passengers, the number expected to use the airport by 1996 or 1997. The two major expansion options--one costing $289 million, the other priced at $385 million--are designed to stretch airport capacity to about 24 million, the number of passengers expected by 2010.

There appears to be time to consider those options in the future. The port should set itself a reasonable short-term deadline for determining if the latest effort is going to take off. If it doesn’t--and recent history does not indicate much hope of success--the Port can take up the expansion plans discussed at this week’s public hearing. That hearing was held only because the City Council asked for it.

If the port is in the mood to spend money, it might want to consider purchasing the ill-conceived Laurel Travel Center at the foot of the runway and taking it down a level or two. That would ameliorate the fears of pilots who have called it an accident waiting to happen--regardless of the FAA’s opinion that the building is not a hazard.

It would be a mistake to derail the effort to relocate Lindbergh to a better spot by making plans to expand the current site to accommodate 24 million people.