EDITORIAL : LAX EXPANSION GROUNDED; MAYOR RIORDAN SHOULD START LOOKING NORTHWARD IF HE WANTS TO ALLEVIATE AIRPORT CONGESTION.

IT'S good to have a mayor who reaches for the stars, who has vision for the future - though sometimes that vision can run into hard reality.

Mayor Richard Riordan wants to spend $12 billion to expand Los Angeles International Airport and improve roads and freeways getting to and from America's fourth-busiest airport.

But nowhere in his preliminary plan does he call for a complete overhaul of the already-gridlocked San Diego Freeway.

And without that, no amount of money will make LAX less congested or the expansion a true improvement for air travelers.

New terminals on the western edge of the seaside airport and one or two runways are being considered to accommodate the surge in passengers. This year, 68 million passengers are expected to use the airport. That number will skyrocket to nearly 100 million by 2015.

LAX has no room to grow. Situated on 3,300 acres, the airport is one of the nation's smallest.

But that's not the worst of it. Just getting to the airport already is a nightmare.

Riordan says the plan calls for spending $1 billion in traffic improvements and assumes that noise problems will be reduced as quieter airplanes come into use.

Streets and freeways are so clogged that it's ridiculous to think adding a car-pool lane or two will make a whit of difference.

Besides, name the last time a massive public works project in Los Angeles came in on time and on budget.

History teaches us that public works projects cost double to triple the first projections. So when elected officials say $12 billion, multiply that figure by four to get a truer cost estimate.

Denver International Airport, considered the great boondoggle of its time, cost $4.9 billion to build, and that was $2 billion over budget and 18 months behind schedule.

It's time the mayor thinks out of the box on this one.

Since 1968, the Department of Airports has owned 17,750 acres at Palmdale just waiting for the day when LAX was maxed out.

That day has come.

City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes LAX, and the mayors of Palmdale and Lancaster are in agreement that expanding an airport already strained to the breaking point will waste money and time, and fail to alleviate air traffic congestion.

Instead, they make a solid case for Palmdale. Imagine what those billions of dollars could do to build a state-of-the-art airport in Palmdale and also improve the Antelope Valley Freeway.

In the time it takes to navigate the freeway parking lots leading to LAX, passengers could be airborne enjoying their fifth bag of peanuts if they left from Palmdale International Airport.

Remember, this is Los Angeles, home of the motto, build it, and they will come.