SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Binational Airport

Perhaps the most promising aspect of the TwinPorts binational airport plan, proposed this week by San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, is that it acknowledges reality: The reality that the military has ruled out Miramar Naval Air Station and the reality that Lindbergh Field is too hemmed in for expansion.

Twenty years of study have produced no serious “new” sites, so it’s time to get on with the most practical alternative: Otay Mesa. If nothing else, Roberts deserves credit for nudging the airport-search process ahead.

The TwinPorts idea has other pluses, however. The plan has won the support of the local chapter of the Air Line Pilots Assn.

It also minimizes transborder complications. San Diego would build a 12,000-foot runway parallel to the Tijuana airport’s shorter runway. Planes could land on either runway and then taxi to terminals, customs, immigration and agriculture inspection facilities in each country. The only truly binational facilities would be a joint air-traffic control tower and a taxiway between the two runways.

Roberts says Mexican officials have been receptive. But several domestic steps remain before formal international negotiations can begin.

First, the plan needs a strong show of support from the City Council, which will discuss it next week.

Lindbergh is running out of room and endangering the region’s economic health. San Diego leaders have known that for years. It’s time to get serious about a solution, and Otay Mesa looks like the best bet.