What once seemed like a great idea has begun to turn into a future, and even present, nightmare as climate change begins to threaten many major airports that are built on low coastal plains.
That includes the 25 out of the world's busiest 100 airports that are less than 32 feet above sea level, including New York, Rome, Shanghai, Bangkok and Barcelona. These airports, located where land was cheap and flat and noise issues could be avoided. Istanbul's new airport, opened this year, is also built on filled coastal marshland.
But low elevations mean that not only will rising water levels worldwide threaten whole airports over the next decades but also that even sooner, even now, they are subject to storm damage on a regular basis. The leader is Osaka's airport, built on manmade islands that have already sunk to near sea level.
In the U.S., two major airports are spending big time to try to keep ahead of the threat. San Francisco is starting on a multi-year project to raise the ten-mile seawall around SFO by five feet, estimated to be enough to keep it dry until 2085. Construction won't start until 2025, however. The estimated $1 billion cost ($587 million for construction and the rest for debt service!) will come from a bond issue to be paid off by raising fees on passenger arrivals and departures.
Across the Bay, Oakland has undertaken a $46 million project to raise its airport dikes and walls.
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