Constructions at IAD
 

Not sure if right forum, sorry... hey, we travelled on UA, at least!

When travelling though IAD last week I noticed a lot of construction (went from main terminal to C-gates.

What´s that all about? Just repairs/remodeling?

F.R.

They are refurbishing C/D terminal to last until they build a permanent midfield concourse (similar to the B concourse.All you wanted to know about the IAD improvement project can be found here. http://www.mwaa.com/d2/index.htm

Anyone who has passed through Dulles Airport recently knows it seems like half construction site and half airport these days. With construction of an airport rail system and other changes well under way, passengers have to pass around temporary walls in the terminal and the moon rovers skirt around fenced construction sites scattered across the tarmac.

The "temporary" C/D terminals (temporary for more than 30 years now) are being "refurbished" - i.e., the ceiling tiles are being replaced and amenities reduced (no more moving walkways). Only your federal government could define lower quality as a "refurbishment."

The ceiling tiles are being replaced at a rate of 1 per day (union rules under a government contract) and that means the tiles will be done by the time the "new" "permanent" C terminal opens in 2097.

Don't look for a timetable for the new C terminal or for the refurbishment of the temporary C terminal. Government bureaucrats are not equipped with the imagination to look that far into the future.

Also note the construction that is absent - as the estimate has yet to exceed a trillion dollars, there is no plan yet for any sort of legitimate public transportation to the major airport serving your nation's capitol.

Imagine what the site will look like should that construction ever begin.

So what's it like connecting there these days?
I've an upcoming transcon, connecting on to MUC in a few weeks.
The last time I did this we docked at B coming in from SFO, but I had to go all the way back to the main terminal and get on a shuttle bus to get out to C.
Are things likely to be any better/worse?

Is it a UA transcon?

If so, you will most likely arrive at the "temporary" C/D terminal, and your outbound to MUC (if it's Lufthansa) is likely to leave from C. You can check the "normal" gate assignments for your inbound/outbound flights on EasyUpdate (click on Flight Status on the UA.com Home Page).

Here's a simple rule to follow: the tighter your connection time, the further the distance between your inbound gate and outbound gate. This rule also applies at ORD and DEN.

If you have a long connection time, your inbound and outbound gates will be, in most cases, adjacent to one another.

BTW, if you have time, take a tour of UA's "Terminal of the Future" - G :D . Catch the bus at C30.

SFO-IAD docking in B??? I'll take your word for it but I find that highly unusual and suspect that you are mistaken or confusing it with a LH arrival. You don't have to go back to the main terminal if it is a domestic flight. There is mobile lounge from A/B to C.

If you are flying to MUC on LH (which departs from B) then you would take the mobile lounge in the opposite direction since UA flights arrive at C/D.

If the flight arrives in D near the mobile lounge dock then an equally good option is to take the D shuttle to the main terminal and then walk thru the tunnel to B. (The D shuttle arrives just above the tunnel.)

The UA MUC flight of course departs from C or possibly a low numbered D gate.

Generally speaking the construction does not impact connecting passengers since there is no construction out at C/D yet. The main impact is that the C shuttle from main has to drive the long way around terminal B. In the past it made a straight shot through where A meets B but this is where they are building the stupid train.

Nope, I was there on that particular instance of UA 950, so trust me, it happened. I thought it pretty odd at the time too and figured it was a one-time kind of event myself. I'm a 2P and have been making this particular jaunt (SFO->IAD->MUC->TRS and back) for 3 years now, flying SFO<->IAD for about 8 and lived 10 minutes from IAD for 20 years before that, so I'm pretty familiar with IAD.

The MUC flight is UA902 which I suspect will be leaving from the low C-gates.
Since I don't live near IAD anymore, I thought I'd check in to see what the construction was doing to the place. Sounds like I should be okay.

Currently my plan is to hide out in the C-end RCC between flights.

Is the train still on track for being done in 2008?

JD

It has been many years since the federal government had direct control over Dulles and then-National. Although Congress retains indirect control and veto power over what goes on at the airports (hence the ongoing presence of the parking lots for members of Congress. Supreme Court justices, etc.), the MWAA calls the shots.

Interestingly, the latest news on that front is that the MWAA, which owns not only Dulles, but also the access road (which is why you see airport police looking for speeders 13 miles from the airport under the Capital Beltway bridges), and even the ground beneath the toll road, is angling to take control of (and thereby dramtically speed up) a Metro rail construction/extension project. Everyone your fingers crossed.

See http://www.leesburg2day.com/current....6&newsid=11573 and the second to last paragraph of http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=2006010400600 6&newsLang=en and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122301398.html

Yea, the one things the clowns in charge can do is talk, talk, talk, and tax, tax, tax. My understanding is that businesses in the Dulles corridor are already paying a special assessment. And the "optimistic" completion date is 2015!

And those *&=@#"! airport police, they sit in their little speed traps and try to catch someone doing 60 mph. Interestingly, they apparently have no authority out in the toll lanes yet they occassionally get out there and pull someone over (you know, it's hard to fish in the pond when the lake's right next door). Supposedly they write the ticket indicating airport access road and most people don't know the difference.

Oh, and did I mention that there's a proposal to "rent" out the toll road to generate a little extra cash?

Or 50, if they're under the bridge just after the speed limit starts to drop as you're headed toward the airport from the access road (they've even put up a piece of wood so you can't see if they're sitting there until you've already crossed under the bridge).

Was that a 767? Could be during the time SAS was leasing UA planes while theirs was being re-furbished. It always looked strange to see the UA plane at the B gate during that period.

Is Marion Barry in charge of MWAA? :rolleyes: