Public Comment Period Open on Massport Environmental Assessment of Runway 27 Safety Improvement Project

By Adam Swift

The public comment period on Massport’s Draft Environmental Assessment/Final Environmental Impact Report on the Runway 27 safety improvements project runs through Jan. 23.

The document responds to all requirements of the Draft Environmental Impact Report Certificate issued by the Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs on August 29 of last year, and was prepared in accordance with the Federal Aviation Authority’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, according to Massport officials.

An electronic copy of the document is available on the Massachusetts Port Authority’s website at https://www.massport.com/logan-airport/about-logan/environmental-reports/ and printed copies are available for viewing at the Winthrop Public library.

“As was outlined in the June 30, 2022 Draft EIR, Massport has a continuing program of enhancing airfield safety at all its airports, including enhancing the Runway Safety Area (RSA) at the Runway 27 End at Boston Logan International Airport (Logan Airport),” stated Stewart Dalzell, Deputy Director Environmental Planning & Permitting Strategic & Business Planning Department for Massport. “Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy requires that Massport enhance the RSA, to the extent feasible, to be consistent with the current FAA airport design criteria for RSAs and to improve rescue access in the event of an emergency. This Project would not extend the usable length of the runway nor have any effect on normal runway operations, runway capacity, or types of aircraft that use the runway.”

To minimize environmental impacts to Boston Harbor, in 2019, FAA determined the preferred option to enhance the Runway 27 End RSA is an approximately 650-foot-long by 306-foot-wide RSA on a pile-supported deck with an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) installed on the deck, Dalzell stated in the cover letter to the nearly 500 page report.

“Because of the unique environmental setting and the extraordinary cost of the type of structure proposed, FAA approved the narrowing of the pile-supported deck from the required 500-foot-wide deck to a 300-foot-wide deck (the actual width of the deck would be 306 feet to allow for safety rails) as past FAA projects have shown that this would provide an equivalent level of safety as a full-dimensional RSA,” he continued. “An EMAS is constructed of collapsible concrete blocks with predictable deceleration forces. In an emergency, if an aircraft rolls into an EMAS, the tires of the aircraft collapse the lightweight concrete, and the aircraft is slowed down in a way that minimizes damage to the aircraft.”

Because of the irregular shoreline in this area, it is expected that the 306-foot-wide deck would extend approximately 450 feet over Boston Harbor. 

“Through use of EMAS and the narrowing of the deck, the Project would minimize coastal impacts while enhancing safety for Logan Airport’s air passengers,” Dalzell stated. “Since the Project, once completed, would not change how Logan Airport operates, this Draft EA/Final EIR focuses on measures to avoid and minimize construction-period impacts and associated mitigation.”

Comments must be submitted by close of business on Jan. 23 through MEPA’s  Public Comment Portal  (https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/EEA /PublicComment/Landing/) or by emailing MEPA  analyst, Jennifer Hughes, at [email protected]; and for NEPA public comments by emailing FAA’s Environmental Protection Specialist , Cheryl Quaine, at cheryl.j.quaine@ faa.gov.