Acting Administrator Dedicates New Facility

Air traffic controllers at Washington Dulles International Airport are now operating out of a new state-of-the art facility. The FAA commissioned the new Air Traffic Control Tower recently, about three and a half years after construction began.

Dulles International is one of the Washington, DC-area's major airports. Air traffic controllers at Dulles handle an average of 1,200 flights per day.

The old tower was built when the airport opened in 1962. The FAA says as it transitions to the Next Generation Air Transportation System, the new facility will accommodate the increase in air traffic as well as other technology.

"Soaring into the sky at over ten stories, the tower gives controllers a complete, 360-degree view of the airfield and movement areas," said acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell at Monday's ribbon-cutting. "This is huge. They’ve now got a crisp, clear line of sight. That’ll come in handy with that third parallel runway coming just 14 months from now as well as the new ASDE-X radar system to boost safety and reduce runway incursions."

Site selection for the new building was approved in April 2002 and the environmental assessment was approved that December. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority awarded a construction contract for the new tower on December 10, 2003 to Smoot Construction Co., of Falls Church, VA for $26.3 million. Smoot began construction in January 2004. The total cost for design, construction and equipment is $67.3 million.

The new tower is located about one mile south of the old tower (shown below) and stands 300 feet tall to the cab. The tower has a two-story, 16,440 square-foot base building and environmental support structure.

It's inner beauty that counts most when talking air traffic control, however... and here is where the FAA says the new tower really shines, with such equipment as:

• ASDE-X
• Enhanced Terminal Voice Switch
• Voice Switch By-Pass
• Digital Voice Recorder System
• Integrated Control and Monitoring System of the Navigational Aid facilities
• Traffic Management Advisory
• FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure
• Fiber Optic Transmission System
• Motorola CM-200 radios
• A new airfield copper cable plant
• Other fiber optics

"Look at the technology," Sturgell said. "The controllers will have better communication links with their colleagues in other facilities. That’s thanks to the Enhanced Terminal Voice Switch capability — ETVS. It’s a huge system upgrade from what was in the old tower."

The FAA has relocated the Contract Weather Observer as well as the Airport Surface Observing System to the new tower. This will improve communications and save money, according to the FAA. 

Two new runways for Dulles were approved by an FAA Record of Decision in 2005. Construction on the fourth runway began in 2006 and will be completed in 2008. That runway will be 9,400 feet long and 150 feet wide.

"The fact is Dulles is America’s red carpet," Sturgell said. "This is the welcoming sight that folks around the world see when they arrive in the national capital area, like a distinguished ornament of a great country."

FMI: www.faa.gov