Friday — April 9, 2004

How far is too far?

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No public facility is as vital to a community’s social and economic well-being than an airport, and perhaps even more so for the Wood River Valley and remote towns farther north in central Idaho.

Isolated from major interstate freeways, our community relies heavily on Friedman Memorial Airport as gateway to more than 70,000 airline passengers each year, as well as destination for the increasing number of personal, corporate and charter aircraft.

During the annual Allen & Co. gathering of media tycoons in July, as an example, as many as 60 corporate jets line Friedman’s parking ramp. Dozens of others come and go routinely every day.

Therefore, it’s serious business for a citizens advisory committee now being formed to study whether and where a new airport at some distant site should be built, and to listen to the public’s views.

We include "whether" because a main attraction of the present airport is its remarkable convenience for travelers who like being close to their destination.

But there’s also the inescapable reality that the present Friedman Memorial is hemmed in by terrain and encroaching population that limit its ability to expand to meet demands of larger airline traffic so vital to the valley’s economy.

Which begs two questions:

First, how far would be too far for a new airport site? At what distance, in other words, would a new airport become unattractive to air carriers and to operators of private and corporate aircraft that would prompt them to transfer their loyalties to another community with a closer-in field?

And second, as impractical as it might sound, should the community try to support two airports—a larger commercial airport at a new site and the present field—and how?

Distance from the Wood River Valley is only one of dozens of factors to be considered by the new group, including impact on the environment, transportation access, year-round climate of a site.

The five-member Friedman Memorial Airport Authority and airport manager Rick Baird are to be commended for creating this advisory group, which implicitly involves the entire community in the ultimate decision.

Now citizens volunteering for this civic duty must be thorough and exhausting in their search for an answer that will benefit the entire area for years to come.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.