by Mindy Aguon

Guam - The Guam International Airport intends to soar to new heights this year as they embark on new capital improvements projects and look to address growth issues and improve operations for the nearly 2.7 million passengers that come through the airport each year. Officials are also tackling the contentious issue of the Tiyan Parkway, hoping to get that project off the ground.

With growing pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration to close Central Avenue that has become a part of an estimated 14,000 motorists' daily commute, an environmental assessment is being conducted by public works while the airport has begun appraisals of cliffline properties. During an informational briefing on Tuesday night, Airport Executive Manager Mary Torres explained that the Tiyan Parkway will be broken up into two phases.

Central Avenue is scheduled to be closed in order for the expanded runway to be operational, as she said, "Phase One will be entirely built on airport land, so it's a brand new road system through airport land. And this will provide the access in lieu of route 8 to the existing East Sunset Boulevard."

Phase Two is closer to the Airport Terminal and will take a longer time, as Torres disclosed that it will require the reacquisition of land along the cliffline in order to intersect with Route 10a. This means the airport will have to pay original landowners in order to get back the cliffline property that was just returned by the government a few years ago. "The alignment will require that those properties some of those properties be acquired and it will also rectify a little bit the issue of the road meandering a little bit in and out of airport property," she explained.

Some estimates have pegged the reacquisition of the land to run as high as $10 million, a figure the airport can't afford. But Torres told the committee that proceeds from the property the airport gives up for Phase One of the parkway will be used to acquire land for the second phase.

The government meanwhile still has to amend and update a memorandum of understanding with the feds that had previously stated the road would be built by 2013.