WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many Bush administration projects aimed at making room for more planes in increasingly crowded skies are behind schedule and over budget.
The inspector general of the Transportation Department, Kenneth Mead, looked at 16 major Federal Aviation Administration projects now costing about $14.5 billion, up from original estimates of $8.9 billion. Most are behind schedule. One, a system to make the Global Positioning System precise enough for instrument approaches, is 12 years late and 274 percent over budget.
''It is not clear how much these programs will cost, how long it will take to complete them, or what capabilities will finally be delivered,'' said his report, released Tuesday.
Mead concluded the FAA must do a better job of figuring out how to modernize the air traffic control system.
''Although the demand for air travel continues to rise, FAA is now emphasizing sustaining the national airspace, as opposed to increasing capacity,'' the report said.
Improving air traffic control is critical now that the number of travelers has rebounded to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels. Aviation experts predict the upcoming vacation season could rival the summer of 2000, the worst ever for flight delays, cancellations and airports filled with stressed-out travelers.
In 2000, there were 698.9 million passenger boardings of commercial planes in the United States, according to the FAA. In 2004, there were almost as many - 698.7 million - and that number is expected to rise this year.
The Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System, or STARS, would replace controller workstations - but seven years late and at a cost of $2.76 billion, up 194 percent from its original estimate. The Airport Surveillance Radar-11 program, or ASR-11, would replace analog radar at small terminals with digital ones for $1 billion, up 35 percent from the original estimate and eight years later than first planned.
FAA spokesman Greg Martin said the agency is in the process of making sure that costs and deadlines are realistic for projects designed to modernize and expand the air traffic control system.
''We've taken significant steps to make sure that happens,'' Martin said.
The FAA reorganized its air traffic control operation in late 2003, combining it with its research and development unit to streamline the modernization of the system.
In a separate report, the Government Accountability Office said that the FAA still needs better management to guide its new air traffic control investments.
Those investments include consolidating the telecommunications network, new weather forecasting equipment and the ambitious $2.1 billion En Route Automation Modernization system, or ERAM, which replaces the brain and central nervous system for managing high-altitude air traffic.
But the FAA is facing its second straight year of cuts to its budget for new facilities and equipment. The report said the agency will have to figure out how to get the most out of its limited resources.
This year, for example, the FAA will spend only about 16 percent of its $1.45 billion modernization budget on expanding the air space. The rest will go to replacing aging equipment in the existing air traffic control system.
