Bids for Runway Work Postponed

The Port of Seattle has postponed to February 24 the deadline for submitting bids for renewed third-runway construction work in 2004 and 2005. The project was originally advertised in October 2003, at a 60 percent design level. There have now been three addenda to the bid package, as final drawings and specifications (especially for fill) have been completed.

In June 2003, the Port claimed in a news release that the work in the 2004 construction season would NOT be affected by the new criteria for fill materials & other conditions, as laid down in the Department of Ecology's sec. 401 certification for the project, & the 16 additional conditions imposed by the Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB). However, a Port spokesman has told Truth in Aviation that the Port will follow all but one of the conditions, saying “We can follow the conditions as they currently exist and still do work. It'll be more expensive and difficult … but we can work”.

There remains an issue about the Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP), which the Port in the past has used to “qualify” fill that has already failed other (more accurate) tests. The PCHB ordered the Port not to use the SPLP in that way, but the Port persuaded the Legislature to pass special legislation (SSB 5787, the “dirty-fill bill”) trying to get around that order. The Airport Communities Coalition has challenged the constitutionality of the dirty-fill bill in the Supreme Court. The Port will be in an awkward position if it brings in dirty fill with the aid of the SPLP test, & then the Court rules that SSB 5787 is invalid.

Extensive Work Proposed

The Port's engineers have estimated the cost for this phase of the runway project at $140,000,000 to $180,000,000. The specifications call for the entire contract to be completed in 654 calendar days from the start. Work includes clearing and grubbing approximately 150 acres & construction of embankments comprising approximately 9 million cubic yards. The successful bidder will need to bring in about 6 million cubic yards of qualified fill from remote sites, while also excavating about 3.3 million cubic yards from Port-owned property, moving most of that to the embankment.

The contractor will also build the controversial “mechanically-stabilised” earthen embankment walls for the runway, to unprecedented heights & lengths.

Another large element will be the relocation of So. 154th Street and 156th Way from Des Moines Memorial Drive to 24th Ave. So.

Associated work includes drainage, water, sewer & other utility installations; bridge construction; illumination installations; landscaping & temporary erosion & sediment control. Temporary erosion control measures including the construction of a temporary sedimentation pond, expansion of four major sedimentation ponds, construction of a treatment cell, as well as two minor pump ponds.

An RCAA spokesperson commented, “As yet, the public has not seen a coherent plan for financing this work. Is it simply to be more & more borrowing against the credit of King County taxpayers? Or does the Port have private assurances that FAA can & will find this money in its budget? Obviously, the airlines cannot advance $140 million to the Port, but perhaps the Port's financial wizards think that their new lease agreement will generate huge new amounts of airline payments. We doubt it.”

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