Originally Posted by
bocastephen
I don't see them as being stuck at all - this project should have been designed from the ground up to achieve what I posted above, and started many years prior to its actual initiation date. From the midfield terminal to this copycat solution from Miami, it's nothing but bandaids with taxpayers holding the bill for many years of additional upgrades to come. Building the overlays could have been accomplished without disrupting the current terminal and airfield operations as these would be structures fitted above the terminals - with a lesser impact to come later when the access routes down into the airside or landside areas could be accomplished with overnight work.
They still have to be attached to the ground, and the existing terminals aren't going to structurally support a concrete people mover trackway. So you could put columns straight down through the terminals (disrupting there), or try to span across the top and put columns on the airside apron (disrupting there) and then either through the existing roadways (in the land of the car) or up against the parking structures, but then you're getting into some long free spans that are going to have even more concrete laid across the top of them for the trackway. Or you can just be like DL and just close and rebuild the terminals one at a time and put the track on top when you do that. By the time you finish 9 and get the APM started it will be time to tear down 1 (or zero) again for the next upgrade.