Possible DCA expansion
 

MWAA has drawn up plans to add a new north concourse to Terminal C, replacing the office and support facility that's there. (Those who remember the construction of the current north terminal might remember this building as the "temporary north terminal" during that time.) US/AA might even pay for it, as it would allow them to consolidate operations behind one checkpoint at the north pier.

By the end of 2014, DCA will be operating at 40% above its passenger capacity.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...ptions-400309/

hopefully, they can also extend the north south runway into the potomac another half mile or so, and put a second runway beside it.

Are you talking about the Interim Terminal for which absolutely nobody feels any nostalgia? The story suggests this expansion of the North Pier wouldn't touch that structure, although it would get close to it.

MWAA approved a $1 billion financing plan today to build a new North Concourse for US/AA regional jets.

Other changes will include converting level 3 (the current ticketing mezzanine) into a single security checkpoint. It seems that ticketing will move down to level 2 ("National Hall"), then pax will go upstairs for screening and walk across on bridges, then down into the piers. Bonus: you'll be able to walk between piers without leaving security.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/art...ent-in-405975/
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/...t-theres-hope/

The financing plan raises fees at DCA, and also directs $400M in DCA fees to pay down IAD's debts.

Great!

This will eliminate gate 35x/taking the cattle bus to commuter world and will provide the capability to transfer to/from all of the B/C piers inside security. ^^

that has been available for quite some time, unless US cancelled the bus.

The point is to do away with the bus, which I'm sure has cost some people their connections.

the current bus only runs from B toC, on the tarmac. a very short jaunt. if the "D" pier becomes a reality, the distance from a to d will be over a mile. shades of lhr, fra and zhr.

Not exactly. The bus only connects the center and north piers. There is no way to connect between them and the south pier without re-clearing TSA.

Also, as BearX220 mentioned and as discussed here, the bus connection is far from optimal. Free movement between all three piers will be a very welcome improvement.

plenty of room for time expansion. originally, the airport was closed from 10pm to 6am. now that time is limited for "quiet" planes has been eliminated. there are not many planes before 5:45, or after midnite, but that still leaves room for a 25% expansion.

the two big limiting factors that keep dca from becoming a "world class" airport is lack of wide bodies, and customs/imigration facility, so we can get tatl planes in.

Very welcome. The bus runs only between B&C and is hardly large enough or frequent enough (and there are both practical size & frequency) limits to acommodate the new AA/US operation, including the fact that an arrival on B with a departure from the commuter "gates" means taking two buses. More importantly, the B-C bus means walking down and then up metal outdoor stairs. Hard enough for the fit, but someone with even minor concerns and a carry-on is better off walking out into the main concourse and then back to the B checkpoint.

It also makes sense to create a commuter terminal as the boarding and off-loading via bus and crowded C gates is a mess.

Update, with some images of preliminary plans:
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ai...pansion-plans/

The prior plan has evolved a bit. Now, the security checkpoints will be moved to an addition on the mezzanine level (the level where the bridges/moving walkways to the Metro and garage are), suspended above the arrivals roadway. The upper level will remain an outside-security ticketing hall. National Hall will now be entirely "sterile," making inter-concourse transfers much easier. This also doesn't require the numerous vertical transfers previously contemplated.

Floor 4: Ticketing (departures roadway)
Floor 3: Security mezzanine ("tunnel" to garages & metro) [sterile side: lounges]
Floor 2: National Hall, concourses/gates/shops
Floor 1: Baggage claim (arrivals roadway)

Banning the public from National Hall is a bit of a mixed blessing. There have been attempts to market its shops to the public, but they've never been entirely successful (I've sometimes stopped in for coffee while out biking the Mount Vernon Trail, but that's rare), and the increased transferring passenger volume would more than make up for the lost business. Other hubs, like MSP, seem to manage just fine with all of their shops beyond security. This also hopefully will ease overcrowding in the piers -- cleared passengers will not be confined there but can roam the entire second floor.

[QUOTE=paytonc;24710162]Update, with some images of preliminary plans:
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/ai...pansion-plans/

From this diagram of the future circulation, it looks like everybody will have to double back to get to the security checkpoint. If I'm reading that correctly, pax arriving via car will have to go downstairs one level, then walk out of the terminal most of the way to Metro before turning around to go through security and then back into the terminal.

That's not a huge imposition, but considering how much people complain about having to walk between the future Metro stop at IAD and the main terminal... there may be some protests.

If that's the price of keeping National Hall unobstructed, I guess can live with it. But it's not what I'd call elegant.

Yes, the east-west-east zigzag before reaching National Hall will add some walking distance to current departures. The total additional walk for someone arriving by car is the equivalent of walking across the street and back.

It's much clearer than the prior plan to have pax go from level 3->2 (NH)->4->2 (piers), though, which also wouldn't have added much in the way of space or amenities to the sterile side.

35X's demise draws nearer... MWAA awarded a contract to AECOM & PGAL to design/engineer the new north concourse. AECOM is the largest architecture/engineering firm in the world, and PGAL is an aviation specialist who was architect of record for DCA's main terminal and IAH's new RJ concourse.

Yay!!!! ^^

Curious what this means:
The overall construction project at National Airport will also include a new parking garage and a study for long-term improvements at the airport’s original Terminal A.


Finally rehabilitating the historic terminal and conducting flight operations out of there? That would be so cool.

I wonder where commuter world is going to be moved to during construction.

Technically, the construction won't directly affect anything at the existing north pier, including gate 35X. It seems like the planes could be parked on the tarmac area past the new pier, even further away from 35X. In particular, the "pushback area" at the left edge of this image looks like it could accommodate any planes displaced by construction:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/r...wNorth_299.jpg

It may not affect parking at the north pier, but it's certainly going to affect operations in "commuter world". There is ramp space for at least 14 aircraft over in the "world" and at times, I've seen up to a dozen of those remote stands used. Looking at the proposed map, I simply do not see where 14 aircraft are going to be remotely parked. I see room for -maybe- 6.

Unless they are able to make the construction footprint so small so as to not impede parking area.

Any updates?

18 December presentation to MWAA board has a few renderings (pages 7-12). They're beginning the process of bidding out construction.
http://www.mwaa.com/sites/default/fi...12-18-2015.pdf

Construction timeline:
– Secure National Hall – March 2017 to June 2020
– New Concourse – December 2017 to December 2021

Is the idea here that security checkpoints would be placed on the upper level so that once one passed through security, and down to the departure level, one could go to each concourse without separate security screening?

The security checkpoints will be on the gate level, spanning over the arrivals curb of the terminal roadway. As you say, this new configuration will allow airside passage between the piers of Terminals B and C.

Sort of; see posts 12-13 above. New security lines will be built next to the bridges that connect the terminal to the parking deck & Metro station.

The level with gates, concourses, and National Hall will be entirely within the security perimeter, and the top/ticketing level will be entirely outside security.

It'll be nice to have those additional restaurants (Bens, Legal Seafoods, etc.) beyond security. I would mention Sam & Harry's but my last two experiences there have been less than stellar.

Of course, erasing from near-term memory the phrase "35X" will be the true benefit.

Could you describe what happened at Sam & Harry's? I've had a string of
good meals there followed by one poor one (rare steak came medium plus,
and the manager told me that was what rare was, but he eventually deigned
to have it remade to my specs) - was planning on a couple visits next month.

35X - it's somewhat nasty, but one can escape to a bar, the club, or
Five Guys; the true hatred is more properly focused on the aircraft ... .

Do you think there will be additional slots (some beyond-perimeter) available after the new terminal is built?

No.

The changes planned won't create any additional capacity, they will just allow pax to walk to gates rather than taking the buses out of 35x.

The perimeter restrictions could all be eliminated tomorrow but won't because MWAA has to force people out to IAD. Sadly the current FAA re-authorization does not contain any new beyond-perimeter exemptions.

"More than 5,000 passengers a day go through Gate 35X." does not seem correct. that is 1.8 mil passengers a year through 35X and dca only has 22M total.

"Reagan National is expected to have record passenger traffic this year, exceeding 22 million."
my wife has to use 35 X to fly DCA-hartford. the stairs are not well cleared of ice in winter. she slipped and fell once.

The Washington Business Journal has a slideshow of National Airport improvements with a few details I don't recall seeing earlier, like the taxi stand at the north end of the main terminal going away.

Rather ironically, eliminating the perimeter restrictions would probably drive people away from the airlines to Amtrak and cars. You can justify flying a short haul to National because its proximity to DC save enough time to make it worthwhile. Once you add in the Dulles to DC transit, for some short hauls, you might as well stick to ground transport. So, while the perimeter inconveniences those who want to fly to Phoenix, it benefits those who are traveling to closer destinations,

The perimeter restrictions are in place for good reasons. Of course we all want a non-stop to wherever it is when we need to go to that place. But, nobody in their right mind schleps to IAD/BWI for short-haul flights.

In fact, more and more people will fly a TCON xDCA with a connection at ORD, IAH, or DFW before adding in the drive to IAD and then the interiminable trip from the curb to the gate at IAD.

That's true only if the perimeter restrictions result in the displacement of short-haul flights for longer haul flights. Not clear to me how much of that would occur.

From what I understand, National does not have capacity for more flights. So, th only way to add a longhaul flight is by cutting a short haul. The expansion in question is to create a better passenger experience for existing flights, not add new flights.

Sure, first visit featured meat that was pretty tough for a Sam and Harry's steak. I ordered it medium rare and while it was the right temp, it was not a good cut of meat (gristle, etc.).

Second visit featured green beans that were substantially undercooked and onion rings that appeared to have come from the bottom of the fryer - some blackened, others charred, others very greasy.

I tend to believe the numbers. I looked at actual flight stats for yesterday and found that Eagle had 120 departures at DCA yesterday on equipment that -could- use 35X - CR2s, CR7s, and Dash-8s. Of those, all of the CR7s (37 of them) used main terminal gates with 37 and 38 being the most popular gates (13 flights out of these two with 4 out of 34).

That leaves 83 flights: 81 CR2s and 2 DH8s. That means 4124 seats departing each day. Multiply that figure by two and you get about 8250 seats.

So, 5000 is an eminently reasonable number.

Thanks for the info. In the meantime, I've experienced it again.

The place is getting inconsistent. I went last week and had a meal
pretty identical to the one that hooked me in the first place - decent
steak, nicely done strings, and spinach that had been cooked enough
(in recent visits it has been just the frozen stuff with some kind of
onion dippy substance stirred in, insufficiently heated). As I no longer
fly out of those gates, I will visit less frequently than before.

More details about DCA expansion
 

The agenda for tomorrow's MWAA board of directors meeting includes a presentation about the plans to build a north concourse for DCA and expand the security checkpoints underneath the arrivals roadway.

From the renderings, the new concourse (estimated to cost $380,898,607 and open in the summer of 2021) looks like it may feel a little cut off from the rest of National. You'll proceed down a long, narrow passageway with moving sidewalks--it reminds me of the passageway between the pier for gates 15-22 and the section with gates 10-14. Fortunately, a separate budget presentation reveals that there will be an Admirals Club in this new space.

The new secure areas, one at each end of the current main terminal, are supposed to be done by fall 2020 at a cost of $237,524,197. Each will feature an open, wavy roof to the west of the roadway, under which people can queue up before security before going through the actual checkpoints in a space built underneath the roadway. So will you get out of a car, enter National at today's doors and then proceed downstairs and under the roadway? Will people arriving from Metro have to double back as well? That's still not clear.

Here's an animation of what the new security checkpoints will look like:


It also helps show the passenger flow. If you're arriving by car, you'll get dropped off at the same spot upstairs, check in, and then head downstairs to the checkpoint via a new set of stairs/escalators.

Arriving via Metro (or walking from the parking garages), you'll walk across the bridge (as you do now) and you'll either need to go upstairs to check a bag (as you do now) or you can proceed directly to the security checkpoint.

I think it should work pretty well.

The big question I have is if they'll keep space on the main level for some carry-on only check-in kiosks.