Pressure on McCarran intensifies

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

If a proposed airport comes to the Ivanpah Valley, it likely won't come a day too soon, the Clark County Commission was told Tuesday.

Having seen more than 41 million passengers through it in 2004, McCarran International Airport is expected to see continued changes in the 12 years before the proposed Ivanpah airport 30 miles south of Las Vegas will see its first plane, county Aviation Director Randy Walker said. The Ivanpah airport is designed to take pressure off McCarran.

By 2017, Walker said, McCarran will boast 117 gates, 25 more than those now dotting the concourses, guiding up to 53 million annual passengers at what is already the nation's sixth busiest airport based on total passengers.

The $2.4 billion in improvements include a $180 million build-out of the newly completed northwest wing of the D Gates and $90 million for runway repair projects.

But it still may not be enough.

McCarran is expected to break 53 million passengers by 2011, meaning the already bustling airport may be bursting at the seams during the additional six-year gap before the new airport could open in 2017, Walker said.

Nearby growth and traffic will likely cap passenger load at the airport at 53 million, he said.

"We might be able to eke out more than 53 million for a while," Walker said.

The 2017 target date is based on the expected completion of the study and other reviews necessary before construction can begin. If they go smoothly, the airport could open sooner, Walker said.

Chairman Rory Reid underscored the need to finish the project sooner.

"Sleep less and get it done," he told Walker.

In the meantime, Walker said relocating small aircraft and helicopter traffic to the much smaller Henderson Executive and North Las Vegas airports could ease congestion. Both of those airports are kept from expanding their runways to accommodate commercial airlines by nearby development, he said.

McCarran sits in the middle of explosive south Strip development and, without removing much of Sunset Road, which runs parallel to much of the facility, and buying adjacent land on which to build new runways, it will be precluded from growing further, he said. Those ideas have proven unfeasible because of environmental restrictions and prohibitive land costs, Walker said.

If built, the Ivanpah airport, which is locked in by steep terrain and environmental protections on surrounding land, could carry at most 35 million additional passengers each year, he said.

Commissioners earlier this month approved hiring a consultant to conduct the government-mandated environmental impact statement on the dry lake bed in the Ivanpah Valley, east of Interstate 15 between Jean and the California border.

County officials chose that location as a front-runner for a secondary airport in Clark County, although parcels in El Dorado Valley near Boulder City, Apex and Mesquite were also reviewed. The Ivanpah land was considered most attractive because plans in El Dorado Valley have proven unpopular and land near Apex would require what could be lengthy negotiations with Air Force officials regarding now-restricted airspace over the Nellis Test Range.

Meanwhile the 90-minute drive from Mesquite to the Strip would likely make that area difficult to market to tourists, Walker said.

Commissioners did not take any formal action on Walker's presentation, although the matter generated lengthy discussion by the board.

Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald said the six-year gap between McCarran reaching its peak and the completion of a new airport is troubling, given the county's rapid rate of population growth, making the need for new infrastructure more urgent in the Las Vegas Valley.

"Six years in Las Vegas time is like 20 in other cities," she said.

The two airports combined would put total capacity for the valley at more than 80 million passengers, roughly the current capacity of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, considered the busiest in the country.

That metropolitan area attracts fewer tourists than Las Vegas but is a major hub for connecting flights, although the greater visitor volume here may make even more capacity necessary, Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said.

"I can't imagine Nevada not being on equal footing with Atlanta," she said. "I can't imagine limiting ourselves. Once we get the design (for the Ivanpah airport), we may have to look for space for another airport."

Airport officials in the meantime have already begun a host of renovations at McCarran, including a new inline baggage screening system designed to allow screeners to monitor bags as they move through massive explosive-detection system machines on conveyor belts.

The upgrade required seven gates in existing terminals be closed temporarily last year, but it is expected to free space at ticket counters because it will eliminate the current in-terminal screening process for checked luggage.

The first of several stages in the $125 million screening project, 75 percent of which was funded by a Transportation Security Administration grant, is expected to begin operations this fall, airport spokeswoman Elaine Sanchez said. The system is expected to eliminate the need for additional screeners to haul luggage to and from the detection machines from the ticket counter.