Regional Airport Project Progresses

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to move forward with a project to build a regional airport in the inland valley that would be large enough to handle San Diego’s excess air traffic.

The vote came Tuesday in El Centro after Steven Benson, of Coffman Associates, an airport consulting company with offices in Phoenix and Kansas City, Mo., outlined findings of an $80,000 regional airport feasibility study.

The study was jointly funded by Imperial and San Diego counties.

“At this point, it does appear feasible,” Benson told the supervisors.

The next step is for the supervisors to solicit comments from both public and private agencies on the feasibility of the project.

Four possible airport sites were identified in the findings: two locations between El Centro and Ocotillo, one near Holtville’s airstrip and another east of El Centro and south of Holtville.

Another airport has been proposed in the Otay Mesa area.

Initial cost of the airport, which would include a 9,000-foot runway, terminal and access road, is estimated at $105.3 million, and an estimate for adding a 13,000-foot runway and increased terminal space is nearly $540 million.

Federal Aviation Administration funds could pay up to 90% of that, Benson said.

Planning for such a regional airport is extremely preliminary, he said, adding that any proposal is contingent on airline interest, acquiring land, handling of endangered species and obtaining FAA funding, among other factors.

Although the study was aimed at reducing commercial flights in and out of San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, Imperial County Supervisor Abe Seabolt said he envisions a facility that would become the hub of air traffic throughout the Southwest.

Seabolt proposed building a regional facility that could handle air traffic destined for Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

High-speed rail service could then take passengers from the valley to urban areas, Seabolt said. Benson said the high-speed rail service could take passengers from the Imperial Valley airport to San Diego in about an hour.

Initially, bus service would be used in place of the rail system, he said. About 200 employees would be needed to begin operations at the regional airport. The airport would eventually employ some 50,000 workers, Benson said.

After initially supporting the study, Supervisor James Bucher said Tuesday that he could no longer back the regional airport concept because most of the valley’s population lives beneath proposed flight paths.

“You don’t want a plane crashing in a populated area in San Diego, but I don’t want one crashing on my house, either,” Bucher said. “We need to look at this carefully. We need to look forward, but at what pace?”