SAN JOSE — In another victory for the Mineta San Jose International Airport, congressional leaders announced Thursday the airport is one of the first to receive nearly $1.5 million in federal funding to study improvements to airfield safety.
“Our airfield was designed to standards from many years ago, and the FAA has since updated those standards,” said airport spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes. “Now we’ll be one of the first airports to undergo this study to see what airfield changes, if any, need to be made here.”
Last month lawmakers announced the airport, plagued by trespassers in recent months, will also receive more than $3.4 million to make its fences taller and more secure. That federal funding will pay for improving 8,600 feet of fencing at the airport’s north and south ends.
The new $1.5 million grant, administered by the Federal Aviation Administration, will fund a Runway Incursion Mitigation study, which will look at ways to reduce the potential for unintended entry of aircraft, vehicles or pedestrians on an active runway.
The study will begin in November and take two years.
The funding will also help pay for an Airfield Design Standards Analysis, officials said Thursday. Mineta International’s airfield layout was designed in the early-1960s, and the study will look at how it handles the significant increase in activity with larger and heavier aircraft and whether design updates are needed.
San Jose’s airport last year became the focus of national concern about airport perimeter security after a teenager living with his father in Santa Clara slipped past the fencing around the runways and into a jet’s wheel well, miraculously surviving the thin, frigid air in the cramped compartment during its flight to Hawaii.
An Associated Press analysis earlier this year reported that San Francisco International led the nation’s major airports in perimeter security breaches during the past decade — and San Jose International ranked fifth. The analysis looked at records of incidents where intruders hopped fences, slipped past guardhouses, crashed cars through gates or otherwise entered areas restricted to protect aircraft and their passengers.
Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, who announced the funding along with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said the federal investment in Silicon Valley’s Airport is essential in the months leading up to Super Bowl 50.
“Continuing to invest in our regional airport helps keep Silicon Valley as the capital of innovation, improves safety and efficiency, and boosts our local economy,” Honda said in a statement.
Follow Ramona Giwargis at Twitter.com/ramonagiwargis or contact her at 408-920-5705.