"End is in sight" for third-runway project at Sea-Tac

Twenty years after the idea emerged, 10 years after the Federal Aviation Administration approved the plans and three years after construction began, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's third runway is entering its home stretch.

But not until the next sunny day.

Crews and machinery are standing by, waiting until this week's rainy weather disappears, to begin pouring concrete on the 1.6-mile-long runway.

It's a small delay for a project already stalled a decade by legal battles.

"The end is in sight," said John Rothnie, the project's supervisor from the beginning.

The new runway will help decrease air-travel delays during bad weather, said Mark Reis, Sea-Tac's managing director. He said FAA regulations call for 2,500 feet between runways serving streams of incoming and outgoing planes during bad weather. There are only 800 feet between Sea-Tac's current two runways, forcing the airport to decrease its capacity to one stream when visibility is limited.

The third runway will solve the capacity problem during bad weather, and will be used primarily for arrivals during good weather, helping to ease the air traffic at Sea-Tac, which served 29 million passengers last year.

The runway's history has seen more clouds than sunshine.

Soon after the runway plan became public in the early 1990s, a broad coalition of cities, hospitals and school districts formed to fight the construction. They sued the Port of Seattle 22 times, citing concerns ranging from environmental impacts to noise insulation for nearby schools. Some of the suits led to changes in the runway plan.

"The coalition feels that it got what it wanted," said Des Moines Mayor Bob Sheckler, an opponent of the runway.

Sheckler credits the lawsuits for the broad environmental protections in the Port's design — including maintaining nearby creeks and wetlands, and relocating damaged wetlands.

Airport officials said the environmental improvements were already in their plans to protect the existing environment.

The lawsuits, Port officials said, also resulted in a higher price tag for the runway — about a $100 million increase. The $1.2 billion total came from airline fees paid to the Port of Seattle, federal grants and ticket fees on airfare. No general taxes were used.

The runway's location was once home to nearly 400 houses, until the Port in 1996 began purchasing the property near its existing two runways.

In 2002, the Port began trucking in 13 million cubic yards of dirt to fill a slope on the north end — a four-year job.

Two years later, crews leveled the landscape.

To retain the fill dirt, three giant retaining walls were built. The highest is 130 feet tall. Airport officials said it's the tallest of its kind in North America.

The concrete will be mixed in a plant built adjacent to the runway. Using a giant paving machine, crews will slowly fill the 1.6 miles of runway with concrete until it is 17 inches thick.

Officials hope for 70 days in the next three months to complete the project in early fall.

They expect the first planes to touch down in November 2008 after receiving the FAA's approval.

Reis doesn't expect Sea-Tac passengers to remember for long the work that went into the new runway but thinks they'll appreciate it nonetheless.

"The value of the project for airlines and passengers, that ultimately will become a background for people," Reis said. "They won't think about it when their planes leave on time."

Manuel Valdes: mvaldes@seattletimes.com or 206-748-5874

Information in this article, originally published July 18, 2007, was corrected August 19, 2007. A story Wednesday about construction of the third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport incorrectly identified Airport Managing Director Mark Reis as Mike Reis.