A decades-long dispute over a 1974 injunction prohibiting further construction at Logan Airport has once again arrived at Suffolk Superior Court, in a trial that began yesterday morning, and is expected to last two weeks.
This injunction is one of the few remaining hurdles the Massachusetts Port Authority must clear before it can start construction on a new runway for the airport, the airport’s sixth.
Massport is asking the court to ‘vacate the injunction,’ or to at least modify it so officials can proceed with construction. Attorneys representing Boston, Somerville, Winthrop and Chelsea, towns surrounding Logan, support the injunction, a result of a prior inadequate environmental review, according to the Boston Globe.
Towns represented at the trial argued a negative impact an added runway would have on the neighborhoods surrounding the airport.
Stephen Leonard, an attorney for the city of Boston, said yesterday the environmental concerns that existed in 1974 are still a factor today. The city also rejects the claim that Massport’s new project is any different from the project proposed in 1974, he added.
‘The environmental impact is similar,’ Leonard said. ‘It’s the same project with a different name.’
Leonard added that the air travel industry as a whole has changed dramatically since Sept. 11, therefore the demand for a new runway is not has high has many believe it once was.
‘It is absolutely clear that the supposed delay problem is not of the magnitude it was,’ Leonard said, ‘and will not return for some time.’
Leonard said when the rebound does occur, the emphasis would most likely be on smaller regional airports than on major airports like Logan.
One such airport is Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass. Opponents to Massport’s plan believe utilizing space available at Hanscom would be a reasonable alternative to constructing a new runway.
‘Hanscom could serve as a reliever for all sorts of aviation,’ Leonard said.
Massport alleges the new runway is imperative, particularly during times of high northwest winds. According to Massport, a new runway will help ease the congestion at one of the country’s busiest and often delayed airports.
While wind gusts are not the first things that come to mind as a reason for flight delays, Massport officials contend they create problems equal to any other inclement weather.
‘[With] strong northwest winds, there is too strong a crosswind, so the primary runway is knocked out, [and then] you are basically operating on one runway,’ said Thomas Kinton, Massport’s director of aviation.
Massport officials contend that as a result of the wind related delays, there is no alternative to solving the problem short of building the proposed sixth runway.
‘There are no alternatives to construction of a runway,’ said Massport attorney Mark Pearlstein. ‘The runway uniquely has the capability of addressing northwest wind delays.’
To the objection of Logan area residents, the Federal Aviation Administration last summer approved the proposed 5,000-foot runway for use when northeast or southeast winds are over 10 knots.
Cities in close proximity to the airport are also appealing the FAA’s authorization of the new runway.