Originally Posted by
tom911
There's been studies over the years to space the runways at SFO further apart so they don't have to reduce takeoffs and landing during inclement weather. They never go anywhere, though, because it would involve filling the Bay and expanding the airport, and that just isn't going to happen with an environmentally conscious Bay Area. Part of living here is knowing that SFO will have reduced capacity when the weather is bad. It's part of the cost we pay for living in the Bay Area.
The plan was to offset the new fill with environmental upgrades elsewhere, and thus was acceptable to some so-called environmental advocates. The runway expansion plan was under serious consideration at one point when capacity was expanding, but was shelved after 9/11 and the 2008 recession when traffic fell. The primary cause was the lack of funding, not environmental concerns - and it was difficult to justify when demand fell off.