What do a few inches have to do with whether trailer trucks use Main Avenue and Post Road or can hop directly on Route 95 from the Airport Connector?

A lot, says Richard Langseth who filed an 11-page complaint with the Attorney General on Friday alleging the Rhode Island Airport Corporation violated the Access to Open Records Act by intentionally obfuscating his efforts to obtain records relating to construction of the South Air Cargo facility and roadway clearance of the terminal flyway. He asks the Attorney General to intervene, make the records available and that “Mr. [Iftikhar Ahmad, RIAC president and CEO] as a professional engineer, recognize the safety hazard associated with an incorrect bridge clearance matter, which may now be embedded in a federal Record of Decision.”

Langseth argues that in an effort to obtain federal funding through a Finding of Not Significant Impact and Record of Decision from the FAA, Ahmad “directed” an overhead clearance of the departure flyover of 16’3” when in fact a RIDOT sign at the overpass reads 12’8”.

In his complaint to the AG, Langseth writes he submitted a request for records to research the matter and paid a $45 fee. However, he says RIAC informed him they had difficulty finding the records among 1,478 emails and increased the fee to $240. Langseth says Ahmad “did not address the expanded scope of the search, nor the additional fee, but simply restated that his staff is having difficulty finding the records…”

Prompting Langseth’s action at this time is the FAA’s issuance of a supplemental FONSI on July 19 to its approval of the project last year. City officials questioned the initial FONSI in an appeal for a review of RIAC’s environmental assessment of the project in the District of Columbia Circuit Court.

In particular, the city sought to ensure a means for tractor trailer trucks to access the cargo hub without using Main Avenue or Post Road was included in the assessment.

While RIAC verbally promised Mayor Frank Picozzi the plan included construction of a rotary so the large trucks could access the Airport Connector, Picozzi wanted it in writing and pressed to have the plans included in those approved by the FAA.

Ultimately, the city’s ask was included in the FONSI approved last month, and the rotary is now part of the FAA approved plan.

On Saturday, Picozzi said RIAC also signed a memorandum of understanding to solidify the promise and that with the supplemental FONSI issued by the FAA, Picozzi questions the need to continue to pursue review of the plans in federal court. Nonetheless, in the meantime, he has neither signed the MOU nor decided to drop the appeal for a review.

Regardless, Langseth says the proposed rotary won’t provide the clearance needed for trucks to access the Airport Connector from airport property. There simply isn’t the room to clear the departure flyway.

On a tour of the airport circulator system, Langseth pointed out the 12’8” clearance sign above the arrival area and the elevation of the departure flyover south of that he estimated at 10 feet. To achieve the clearance needed for tractor trailers, Langseth contends the road would need to be dropped by as much as six feet, but that would cost millions and could require cutting into the airfield not to mention disrupting airport operations.

Asked where he sees this going, Langseth, a retired engineer himself, questions the current plan. He noted that construction trucks are entering the site of the cargo facility from Strawberry Field Road west.

“Trucks are accessing it now,” he says.

Might that become the solution – trucks using a short stretch of Post Road to go to and from the Airport Connector?

Langseth doesn’t see that happening without another environmental assessment or at the least another supplemental FONSI. All of that takes time and money plus agreement from City Hall.

RIAC did not respond to a request for comment on Langseth’s request for the AG to intervene, the projected cost and completion date of the rotary or whether it is on schedule to meet a 2025 completion of the South Cargo facility, as made last year by AECOM that prepared the environmental assessment.

A spokesman for the Attorney General confirmed receipt of Langseth’s complaint Monday.

“As to the merits of the complaint, we are still reviewing, but this will proceed through our usual process of opening a complaint and letting the public body respond.  It’s also worth noting our role would be limited to the APRA matter, and not the underlying substantive allegations,” he wrote.

The Rhode Island Airport Corporation did not respond to an email with written questions or a request for comment.

Langseth also filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act with the FAA regional office in which he writes: “FAA approved a Record of Decision that shows 16'3" of clearance. RIDOT has posted a 12'8" clearance bar that has been partially broken off by a high vehicle hit. RIAC is moving forward with construction activities in the area and the bridge is open for trailer truck traffic putting at peril pedestrians in the sidewalk at the intersection, passenger car drivers, and trailer truck operators.”