That Sinking Feeling.

It’s too hot to sleep tonight, so I enjoyed a Super Structure episode about Kansai International Airport in Japan. In a nutshell, it’s sinking into the ocean. This was the best site I could find to sum up the airport. Now I have a couple of questions.

It seems inevitable that this man-made island is going to sink into the ocean. So how long before it does? 5, 10 years? Then what, spend a few more billion to make another?

Pure curiosity here, in all fairness, I am amazed at how it was designed and I think it is fascinating and beautiful.

Now this next question may be a bit more GD-ish and may get the bulk of responses here, if so, manny knows what to do.
What becomes of the surrounding area when the inevitable does occur and Kansai is no longer open? Surely the area will be hurt by the loss, as it has become accustom to International thoroughfare.

Heat, beer, The Learning Channel. The end result tonight is my useless pondering. I’ll run on back to MPSIMS now.

It looks like the site you quoted answers your question - it says "Every year the airport sinks one to two inches, and is expected to continue sinking for the next 30-50 years. " So it’s expected to sink another 3 or 4 feet max, and stop there. Doesn’t sound like a huge problem - just build up a bank around it if it gets too low.

The major problem is when part of the building sinks more than the rest. The whole terminal building is supported on hydraulic jacks to compensate for this. Even if the jacks run out of travel, I’m sure it’s possible to lift it even higher. Runways may crack, but that can be fixed. I haven’t heard of anyone worried about the airport getting closed off in the near future.

yeah, they’ll probably build a seawall/dike.