Airport officials want to spend $2 billion for improvements

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 9:21 a.m.

Clark County airport officials want to spend $2 billion over the next 20 years to keep up with air transportation needs.

"With the plan we have, if we are successful, we will be well situated to meet the needs of the valley as long as anyone can foresee," said Randall Walker, director of aviation for McCarran International Airport.

The Clark County Department of Aviation's Vision 2020 report laid out plans that include building a new airport - to open in 2010 - 35 miles south of Las Vegas in the Ivanpah Valley between Jean and Primm, a $1 billion expansion and renovation of McCarran, $30 million in upgrades at Henderson Executive Airport and $15 million at the North Las Vegas Airport.

Expansion is necessary because flight delays would prevent new routes from being added at McCarran where about 80 percent of the passengers are leisure travelers, which yield less profit to the airlines than business travelers, Walker said.

The passenger count at McCarran grew from 19.1 million in 1990 to 33.6 million last year. While Walker doesn't expect growth in the next decade to be as high as in the 1990s, even moderate growth estimates, of 4 percent annually, would outstrip McCarran's capacity of 55 million by 2014.

He said annual passenger counts increase by 320 for each new hotel room.

"What happens when we get to 55 million passengers?" Walker asked. "Do we build another runway or build a new airport?"

Adding another runway at McCarran would cost more than $1 billion plus land acquisition and business relocation expenses and would force aircraft to fly directly over Henderson's Green Valley, Walker said.

He also contends existing roads, terminals and parking would not support another runway.

A McCarran spokeswoman said the first stage of the Ivanpah Valley Airport would cost about $500 million and that could double.

The Ivanpah Valley is the "last site in Southern Nevada that meets suitable criteria: airspace; terrain and topography; land use capacity and surface access," the report said.

But environmentalists claim the land is not suitable for an airport. A coalition of 14 environmental groups signed a letter urging Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to reconsider his support of legislation that would permit the sale of the 6,300 acres of federal land to Clark County for the purpose of building the airport.

The letter claims the airport would adversely affect air quality, water quality and quantity and traffic.

Reid has scheduled a meeting next week with the National Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration to address concerns about the flight pattern and its effect on the environment, said David Cherry, his press secretary.