Monday, September 30, 1996

DFW opening new runway Tuesday

By Associated Press

IRVING (AP) - After eight years of planning and fighting with its neighbors, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday will open a new $300 million runway expected to help ease the nation's congested airspace.

The 8,500-foot runway, dubbed 17 Left/34 Right, was constructed over the past three years with enough concrete to build a 2,200-mile sidewalk from the airport to British Columbia.

Federal transportation officials say the strip, which gives DFW seven runways in all, will make the airport the nation's busiest - busier even than Chicago's O'Hare - by the year 2000.

It also will add 18 percent to the nation's airspace capacity, relieving airborne traffic jams that now stretch up to 600 miles, officials say.

"The new runway will be a wonderful development in transportation," said Federal Aviation Administration chief David Hinson. "With the new air traffic system that will begin in October, DFW could definitely become the most efficient major airport in the country."

The runway is on the eastern side of the sprawling airport, which straddles Tarrant and Dallas counties between Fort Worth and Dallas.

Planning for the airport expansion, which continues with work toward a 9,700-foot runway on DFW's west side, began in 1988. Officials said they needed more capacity to handle a predicted explosion of air traffic.

That was followed by years of bitter legal battles with DFW's neighbors - the cities of Irving to the east and Grapevine and Euless to the west. Homeowners in the cities feared increased noise and pollution from the additional jet traffic.

"We accept the fact that the runway is a reality," said Irving Mayor Pro Tem Harry Joe. "At the same time, we hope that the operation and use of the runway are not detrimental to the adjacent area."

In areas where noise will be a problem, the airport bought and demolished 426 homes, three churches and an apartment complex. Other homeowners accepted payment in exchange for overflight rights.

Grapevine and Euless are still fighting the west-side expansion, which isn't expected to start for at least two more years.

"In a word, it has been laborious," said Dallas businessman Jan Collmer, the only current airport board member who was on the board when the project was conceived.

"We've used three executive directors, six or seven board chairmen, dozens of board members and no telling how many consultants and engineers to make this thing happen."

Officials in Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle started talking about major runway projects at the same time DFW announced its plans in 1988. Those other projects are still in the talking phase.

On Oct. 10, the FAA will begin operating a new system of aerial highways designed to take advantage of DFW's new runway. The system, which cost $166 million and included the construction of navigational aids, two new air traffic control towers and a modern radar room at DFW, is the largest airspace change ever undertaken by the FAA.

Once the FAA's airspace plan is fully operational, the new runway will be used mainly as a landing runway during busy periods of the day. Most of the time, it will handle commuter planes, but officials said that many jets also will use it.

Collmer, also a stunt pilot, will perform the ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Tuesday by using the wing of his stunt plane to clip a bright orange ribbon suspended on 18-foot poles. An American Airlines Boeing 757 is expected to be the first jet to touch down on 17L/35R shortly thereafter.

Transportation Secretary Federico Pena is expected to lead a group of dignitaries at the opening.