Sea-Tac's Third Runway Almost a Fully Operational Battlestation

Yesterday the Port of Seattle invited a rag-tag crew of media, runway protesters, environmental activists, local residents, and assorted schmoozers on a tour of Sea-Tac's third runway, a project about 20 years in the making, and set to open on November 20, 2008, pending final FAA certification.

The first question you have, of course, is Why do we need a third runway? We're glad you asked. That's a good question!

You may not have noticed, but it's often cloudy in the Puget Sound region--in fact, up to 44 percent of the time we're socked in with low clouds that make flying in and out of Sea-Tac challenging. During periods of low visibility, Sea-Tac can only run on one runway (the existing two are too close together for safety, says the FAA). Planes stack up, delays get longer and longer, your kids become less enamored with the airport waiting lounge.

Is that worth the $1.01 billion? The Port thinks so. So now we have a third runway about a half-mile west of the terminal, 8,500 feet long, 150 feet wide, 17 inches thick. Its first plane (on an FAA test run) landed on it yesterday. It's a big runway, but not A380-big. Sea-Tac will handle the same size planes it currently does--maybe even a few more of them, what with Virgin America and Hainan Airways setting up shop. But the main goal is see that on-time flight number keeping heading north.

Environmental mediation along the west side of the third runway involved landscaping with native vegetation--a total of 158,000 plants were planted around Sea-Tac. (MvB)