Raleigh-Durham International Airport Needs Help

With the number of business passengers at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport on the upswing, a congestion-free terminal is more important than ever. That makes the ideas of the design team at Fentress Bradburn Architects, the Denver firm hired to redesign Terminal C, crucial to efficiently moving travelers through RDU. Designers are planning simple design elements to smooth passenger flow.

Thom Walsh, one of the architects working on Terminal C, says designers are discussing strategies to get people from the parking lot to their airplanes more quickly. "In the initial phase, passengers coming from the parking garage will proceed directly across a bridge to the ticketing level without changing levels," says Walsh.

Tim Clancy, chairman of the RDU Airport Authority and president of Clancy & Theys Construction Co., notes that there will be a moving sidewalk from the lobby down the concourse "to speed people to the north end of the gates." The terminal "will also need more drop-off space, more room in the ticketing lobby," says Clancy.

"The new design allows passengers that are not checking bags to bypass the ticketing counters and proceed directly to security," says Walsh. "Additionally, ticket counters will be in an island perpendicular to the curbside to facilitate flow through to security and on to the concourse."

That flow is particularly important since the terminal is being redesigned from a hub for American Airlines to an origin-and-destination terminal where 95 percent of the passengers do not change planes, but arrive at and leave from RDU.

"That makes big choke points on the outside of the terminal, outside of security and (in) ticketing," says Clancy. "The way you go from ticketing to the gates now is a fairly narrow corridor. It's hard to put a lot of security there because there's not room."

Clancy says the Terminal C rebuild needs more security checkpoints to decrease waiting time and lines. "There are two or three lines now," he notes. "You may need 10 to accommodate more people." Clancy notes that at the new Terminal C, designers are planning unmanned ticket kiosks where travelers can check in by computer, eliminating the stop, and the line, at the busy airline check-in desk. Therefore, says Clancy, "many more of those passengers don't have to interact with an agent. Except handling the bag, they don't have to check in there."

The airport will, however, need more ticketing space for baggage handlers, says Clancy. That's not to say all ticketing will be automated. Each airline needs an attendant to handle ticketing as needed and passengers who need help transferring to another plane need access to an airline person who can provide them information, notes Clancy.

Another design change will allow people arriving on international flights to leave the airport immediately after going through customs, Clancy says.

"Now, the way it's set up, you have to get your bag after it's gone through customs, send it through the bag carousel and pick it up at bag pickup," says Clancy. "There are no exits from the international area and you have to walk back through the terminal. You double-check your bag. With the new one, once customs is cleared, you will walk right outside with your bag."

FMI: www.rdu.com