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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Burbank Airport Gets Linked Up

In a corner of the Bob Hope Airport workers were busy last week constructing support columns while others poured concrete for an elevated walkway and laid down fuel lines. For another year, this construction will be a familiar sight at the Burbank airfield as an $82 million regional transportation center set to open in summer 2014 takes shape. The facility is part of an ambitious program by the airport to improve public transportation, including building another Metrolink station at the north end of the airport. There are even studies being conducted about how to link the airport to the Gold Line light rail system in Pasadena and the Red Line in North Hollywood. Dan Feger, executive director of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said the airport operator is trying to lure more passengers, who have other choices where to take their flights. “We are doing what we can to make it convenient so anytime convenience is a deciding factor Burbank is it each time,” he said. The airport could use a boost. As a regional airport, Bob Hope is an alternative to Los Angeles International Airport, providing non-stop service primarily to West Coast cities. But air traffic declined 5.7 percent in 2012 to 4.1 million passengers. Last year, American Airlines pulled its operations out of Bob Hope, and Jet Blue and Delta have shifted flights to other airports. Despite the passenger slump, though, six commercial airlines still operate from the airport with Southwest having the most flights. The airline flew 2.8 million passengers from Burbank in 2012. Airport officials don’t expect the development of more transit options will completely turn around that slide, but they want to at least retain the passengers who frequent the airport by giving them more alternatives to driving. And they acknowledge that is a daunting task. A survey done in May 2012 of 751 passengers found that 73 percent used their private vehicle to get to and from the airport, while only 1 percent used the Metrolink and Amtrak trains that stop at the south end of the airport. But that survey also indicated many passengers might be amenable to using public transit. Of those passengers coming by private vehicle, 57 percent were dropped off and only 43 percent were parking for a day or more. That means a majority of passengers need some assistance getting to the facility. “As long as it is convenient they could use it,” Feger said. “They don’t have to use their cars.” Regional center The airport has taken small steps to increase that convenience. In 2010, the airport began offering free on-demand shuttles linking with the downtown Burbank Metrolink station and the North Hollywood Red Line subway station. “The airport does have a strong grasp of the advantages of regional connectivity,” said Don Sepulveda, executive officer of regional rail at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, better known as Metro. The $82 million Regional Intermodal Transportation Center now under construction on the Empire Avenue side of the airport and adjacent to the Metrolink station will be another step. The five-level structure will contain rental car facilities, a bus transit station and a moving walkway to the terminal. The project, however, was not without its snags. Funding for the project came from a bond issue by the airport authority. But when original bids came in well over budget – the lowest was $157 million – the scope of the transit center was scaled back. Gone was the all-steel construction and galvanized rebar to make sure the building withstood earthquakes. As a replacement, the center is now made from concrete and uses triple friction bearings on the columns to keep the building at least stable in the event of a temblor. The space for the rental cars, bus station and moving sidewalk was unchanged. “We preserved the essential functions of the building,” Feger said. The next likely project to see completion is the proposed Metrolink station north of the airport at San Fernando Road and Hollywood Way. Metro will contribute $2 million and the airport $1.75 million for the project. The station will be built on existing Metro right-of-way along the train line. The agency is currently looking for a consultant before moving on to environmental review and final design of the station, which will also include a bus stop and kiss-and-ride drop off point, Sepulveda said. The station will serve the Metrolink line that extends into the Santa Clarita Valley, augmenting an existing Metrolink station at the south end of the airport that serves the Ventura County line. Passengers currently arrive and leave the airport at the existing Metrolink station, but a Santa Clarita connection could bring much more traffic. On the Antelope Valley line, the stations between Lancaster and downtown Burbank had average daily boardings totaling more than 3,800 people for the period of October through December 2012. The airport stop on the Ventura line at the airport’s south end had average daily boardings of 268 passengers for that time period. However, one complication is the Metrolink schedule. The system is designed for commuters, with trains running into Union Station in downtown Los Angeles in the morning and leaving in the evening. There are gaps in service in early and mid-afternoon on both the Antelope Valley and Ventura lines. “That constriction is a severe limitation on the lines feeding into Union Station,” said Mark Hardyment, director, environmental programs, for the airport authority. Another complication the airport authority faces in improving transit connectivity is that the federal agencies involved – the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration – all have their own agendas. “It’s complicated trying to get them to talk with each other,” Feger said. “They are not set up to work harmoniously.” Making connections As the airport itself does not have the ability to build transit connections it has taken on the role of catalyst to get other transit agencies to cooperate. Metro is in the process of wrapping up a Bus Rapid Transit study to determine where to create new special bus lanes or routes. A bus connection between Pasadena and North Hollywood that would include the airport is among 12 routes still under consideration by Metro, Hardyment said. A final report from the Metro Planning and Programing Committee is expected to be released in May. Also, the airport authority in January approved an $829,000 contract with STV Inc., a New York engineering and architectural consulting firm, to identify ways to improve ground travel to Bob Hope. Among the areas that STV will look at is better connections between the North Hollywood Red Line station and the airport, Feger said. That would attract passengers from the west San Fernando Valley that can ride the Orange Line busway to North Hollywood near the Red Line station. It would also reduce traffic on Hollywood Way, a main surface route to the airport, Feger said. What Bob Hope is doing is a noble effort toward making the airport a true regional transportation hub and follows principles used in Europe, said Jack Keady, a transportation consultant with offices in Playa del Rey. But he warned that additional connectivity will not be an instant success and ridership numbers will fall below expectations. “This will depend on how much promotion the airport can do. They will have to motivate the chambers, Amtrak and Metro to promote and push this new activity,” Keady said.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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