LOCAL 2004: HAHN LANDS HIS PLAN FOR LAX OVERHAUL OPPOSITION LAWSUIT READY TO TAKE OFF IN COURT.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

After spending more than 10 years and $100 million for studies, city officials this year put the cap on work that many thought would never be done: producing a modernization plan for Los Angeles International Airport.

Expected to cost $11 billion and take 15 years, the project will be one of the largest public-works efforts ever undertaken in the nation. Mayor James Hahn has cited the project as one of his accomplishments - even as it carries as much political risk as it does benefit.

Unless the plan is implemented, Hahn said the number of passengers would continue to grow at LAX, third-busiest airport in the nation - perhaps beyond the current limit of 78.5 million a year. Following the plan, he said, growth can be limited while security and street traffic are improved around the airport, where there has not been any major work since before the 1984 Olympics.

Los Angeles County supervisors have authorized legal action to block implementation of the plan because of concerns about security and the future demands for passenger and cargo service.

First developed by former Mayor Richard Riordan, the plan has undergone several major changes in the Hahn proposal. The most dramatic change is for security improvements in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Officials including Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, joined others in asking why the prestigious Rand think tank had not been involved in the security review.

After initially stalling, Hahn agreed to include Rand in reviewing the plan, and its researchers came to support many of the proposals while adding their own proposals to reduce risk to passengers.

The scope of the plan also came to scuttling it - with wide opposition to a proposed ground transportation center at Manchester Square, which would serve as a central point for passenger arrival and luggage screening.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX, worked with Hahn and community leaders to craft a compromise that creates a ``green light-yellow light'' approach to portions of the plan.

Green-light projects, which account for $3 billion of the total, will be allowed to proceed without much further review.

These include runway improvements, modernization of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, a new rental car facility and a people-mover system from the Green Line.

Yellow-light projects will be subject to further debate, environmental reviews and full City Council approval. These include the proposed ground transportation center, demolition of some terminals and some other controversial transportation work.

The plan also calls for $500 million to provide soundproofing to homes and schools, air-pollution controls and job training for neighboring Inglewood and Lennox.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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Expected to cost $11 billion and take 15 years, the LAX plan will be one of the largest public-works efforts ever undertaken in the nation.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer