Up, Up and Away

BWI Keeps $1.8 Billion Program Flying to Ease Growing Pains

By Mary Beth Sammons

"Easy come, easy go," is the marketing slogan for Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

But in recent years, it's been a "monumental challenge," to keep travelers moving in and out of the airport, both on and off the ground. Especially since 2000, when BWI launched a six-year, $1.8 billion expansion plan that includes building a new Southwest Airlines concourse, doubling parking, building a new rental car facility and a rail link between the nearby train station, main terminal and garages.

BWI'S Blueprint for the Future outlines the aggressive $1.8 billion plan to ensure that the facility meets the needs of its growing constituency.

"It's been a monumental challenge to keep travelers moving, and at the same time meet the strict airline regulatory standards, plus work on an accelerated schedule," said Joe Nessel, acting director for engineering and construction management for the Maryland Aviation Administration, which is overseeing BWI's expansion. "We were already working all night long to be least disruptive, but also had to face record rain fall this last spring, summer and fall that caused major delays and presented a real challenge to stay on this schedule."

Indeed, there is "a tremendous urgency" to the work, which began in 2000 and will continue for up to six years, said Nessel. It is meant to ease the infuriating shortage of parking and mounting lines at ticket counters that have dented BWI's longtime reputation as a convenient airport and gateway to the Washington travel market.

BWI's expansion plans were announced in 2000 just one month after nearby Washington Dulles International Airport announced major expansion and improvement plans, said Nessel. Both were once sleepy outposts, but have emerged over the last years as the fastest-growing major airports in the country. BWI grew at 16.2 percent last year, just behind Dulles's pace, by capitalizing on Southwest Airlines' steady expansion to become a teeming center of low-cost travel. Officials said they project the airport will reach 19.4 million passengers this year (2004) and surpass 30 million by 2010.

"We had to take a really aggressive and comprehensive strategy to deal with growth on several fronts," said Nessel.

On the Drawing Boards The most ambitious element of the plan is the $400 million rail loop that would make at least four stops and provide a direct connectionat the BWI train station for travelers who take Amtrak or MARC between Washington and BWI. By replacing the shuttle buses, this rail link would provide easier access for passengers arriving from or heading to the south. That would enhance BWI's growing orientation toward the prosperous travel market in the Washington region, said Nessel.

Also on the drawing board for the next two years, is the addition of 20 gates as part of a $375 million terminal expansion. They will include 16 on an extended Concourse A for domestic flights and four in a new Concourse F. By 2005; the airport will also widen Concourse D and expand the main terminal.

And as the air traffic grows, also posing a major challenge was the on-t h e -g r o u n d traffic congestion that has had travelers driving around in circles to try to find parking, said Chirantan Mukhopdhyay, project manager for the Parson Transportation Group, which is working hand-in-hand with the aviation authority to oversee the project.

Rental Car Consolidation A key component of that was doubling parking and building a new rental car facility, he said. The MAA worked closely with the rental car industry to develop a frees tanding rental car facility to combine all rental car operations - eight different national car rental agencies - in a single location, just west of the Airport terminal to optimize service to car rental customers.

The new, $134.8 million Consolidated Rental Car Facility, which opened in December, 2003, on a 100-acre site located west of the airport, opened significant space on the lower level of the BWI terminal building for other customer service needs. Moving the rental car operations to its own facility also freed up more than 1,000 prime parking spaces in the existing hourly garage.

"One of our major challenges was communicating with the neighbors in the rural surrounding area and explaining that the car rental facility and construction traffic for the expansion would not interfere with their day-to-day lives," said Mukhopdhyay. "We spent extensive time going door-to-door and holding meetings to help them understand that in the end all these improvements would make the airport a better neighbor."

A number of other important elements of the construction program were opened in the fall of 2003 including the first of three sky walks connecting the hourly garage to the airport terminal. The MAA completed construction of additional security checkpoint lanes at concourses C and D. A major curbside expansion is also underway.

"There were many technical challenges related to trying to squeeze all this construction into tight spaces between the airport and garages and the runways," said Steve Lucchesi, vice president and project manager for URS Corp., the designer for the expansion and improvement project.

BWI also plans to spend $328 million to add about 12,000 parking spaces, nearly doubling the 16,800 already in place. Travelers already have seen the first improvements next year with the opening a new daily garage also opened with 3,000 spaces near the Airport terminal. Another 5,400 spaces are being built and scheduled to open in late 2004.

The garage features the high-tech BWI Smart Park system. Baltimore-Washington International is one of two U.S. airports that have installed an electronic guidance system called Signal- Park (the other is in Jacksonville, Florida. BWI has wired 4,900 spaces since 2001, with another 8,000 promised in 2004. By next summer, passengers may be able to reserve spaces in advance.

Creating a traveler-friendly design to the expansion posed a major challenge, said Lucchesi. The original architecture consisted of heavy, black steel with a dark curtain wall with bright red floor to ceiling columns and dark carpeting.

"We wanted to create a light and airy feeling, but to also be respectful of the original design," said Lucchesi. To accomplish that, they painted the red columns white, replaced the current wall with glass and installed a bright-colored off-white Italian tile.

Additional challenges came in the construction of the new Southwest concourse, as the airline did not want to replicate the space frame of the original buildings, but the designers needed to "make it look like it was the same." The solution: a steel frame with lots of skylights to create light and a French fabric roof tent frame ceiling.

"This gives it a very translucent feeling and it is back lit to give the glow of light," said Lucchesi.

Maryland aviation officials also have said they expect to build a fifth runway, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but they are still awaiting a recommendation from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Also underway is a $200 million program to widen and extend the road in front of the main terminal and to erect pedestrian bridges with moving sidewalks so travelers no longer have to battle automobile traffic.

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