Originally Posted by
amanuensis
I've never understood why IAD was ever built. BWI is not THAT much further from downtown DC than IAD is. It sure seems to me that BWI and DCA are all that are needed. DCA IS, after all in Virginia, so it seems that it should be able to adequately serve points south of DC until you get into the RIC catchment.
I think the original plan was to scale DCA way back and IAD would be the main Washington DC airport. Of course that never happened. Business travelers (including government employees) preferred the convenience of DCA. Same is true of other airports like DAL and LGA. Although In the case of DEN, they shutdown the close in airport.
But I think i was still wise to build IAD way back in the early 1960s - even though not needed, as they were able to get the land and build the IAD access road. The surrounding areas are densely populated - so trying to build a new airport now would be impossible.