Will Rogers Development Discussion 2011

[SkyWestOKC]

Thought it would be better to open a separate discussion of the developmental projects/issues underway in this thread. That way the "Air Service" thread can remain just that, a discussion of the air service.

Pete, I understand this could be a thread for the Suburban Development forum, but I would like to request this remain in the Transportation forum, as it is a sub-topic of transportation within the metro.

[SkyWestOKC]

Progress update from June 8th, 2011.

Atlantic Aviation Hangar/FBO and ARINC new hangar:



Atlantic Aviation Hangar/FBO:






ARINC Hangar:








Shuttle Bus/Taxi Cab/Courtesy Car Staging Area (North overflow lot on the north side of Amelia Earhart):

[bombermwc]

Shuttle staging area? Is that where they park at night or something? Man i wish they would have put a tram in instead of the stupid giddeyups.

[Jesseda]

There will be a a manned booth over in the shuttle taxi area, it is not for giddyup vans, its for airport express, taxi's etc... also it would be nice to put a tram, but with so many parking lots, a tram would cost way to much to go around to all those places.

[SkyWestOKC]

Shuttle staging area? Is that where they park at night or something? Man i wish they would have put a tram in instead of the stupid giddeyups.

Here: http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.ph...941#post432941

A tram would be very expensive to cover the different parking lots. It probably would not add much benefit to the current parking situation. The terminal roadways, parking shuttles, etc. are not crowded, there wouldn't be that much advantage to having it. We need to face the fact that we aren't an extremely busy airport, we have average passenger numbers for a city our size (actually below average to a lot of similar cities). It will probably be a long while before we see a parking shuttle run by rail -- if ever.

[Pete]

On the airport trust website I found a document titled Airport Construction Project Progress Report.

Of note:

Phase III Terminal Expansion study & environmental assessment (east concourse with at least 8 gates and additional retail/restaurants). Plan/study is complete at total cost of $1,350,000.

Checked Baggage Inspection System. $24,822,791 preliminary design complete -- completion July 2014.

Consolidated Rental Car Facility. $37,000,000. Presentations May 2011.

Parking Garage A&B Renovations. $4,000,000 bids to be let 6/28/11.

CCTV for TSA Secured areas: $4,100,000 to be complete 9/25/11.

[ChargerAg]

4 million for a CCTV? that seems like a crazy high number.

[Pete]

I hope that means they are reworking the TSA areas in general. They were an afterthought because construction had already started before 9/11.

Also, if we ever get to Phase III of the terminal plan, I really hope they do something with the way arriving and departing passengers are all dumped into the same area before the arrivals go down escalators to the lower level. Not only is the flow a mess, it means those waiting for arrivals in the terminal hang around in the upper concourse area instead of downstairs. It's a mess and was a huge design flaw considering the entire terminal was just recently reworked.

[SkyWestOKC]

1) Tomorrow the Airport Trust will receive the Phase III Terminal Expansion Plan.

2) Atlantic Aviation opened up today. A soft opening anyway. Photos here: http://www.atlanticaviation.com/Locations/OKC.aspx

3) Rumor is when United and Continental combine, the will take Gates 3,5,9. Leaving the airport with Gate 10 and a total of 5 unused gates (!). There is a possibility they will take Gate 1 or Gate 11 in the future, but that is more rumor on top of the rumor. The reason for leaving Gate 10 for sure is so they will not have other airlines blocking them in, the alley on the north side of the concourse will be theirs. A lot of times Southwest will block flights from getting to/from Gate 10 when Southwest pushes out.

4) Portland Ave. construction has received the NTP from city public works, estimated completion is Sept 30, 2013. Two years to do a 2 1/2 mile 4 lane road....amazing. What makes it amazing is the land is farmland, there is hardly any site prep or clearing required.

[SkyWestOKC]

Here is the Phase III Terminal Expansion plan presentation.

It addresses the issues Pete brought up about congestion near the escalator cores at the security exits. Also, the East Concourse would be expanded to 3 gates at first, then the remaining 6 would be added at a later date. This also provides for Customs, so international flights would be possible. Hopefully the airport goes ahead with the Phase 1,1A plans, as recommended by the study.

http://okc.gov/AgendaPub/view.aspx?c...fileid=1252695

[DelCamino]

Here is the Phase III Terminal Expansion plan presentation....

http://okc.gov/AgendaPub/view.aspx?c...fileid=1252695

SkyWest, or others: do you know the outcome of the presentation of the expansion plan to the Airport Trust last June? I wonder if they 'received' the study or did they select an option with plans proceed in the near future? I'm guessing the decision is still a ways off...............

[SkyWestOKC]

AAR is getting an expanded 48-space parking lot, probably to be awarded a contract next Wednesday. If not the next trust meeting in September.

Concrete has started on the Shuttle/taxi-cab staging area on Amelia Earhart. I can't wait till they get that finished. The taxi cab drivers are dangerous how they park and congregate on 67th street by the control tower.

[MustangGT]

The taxi cab drivers are dangerous how they park and congregate on 67th street by the control tower.

Amen to that. I almost hit one of the foolish idiots 2 nights ago when he stepped into traffic without looking. He did not appreciate the cussing he got but he deserved it.

[SkyWestOKC]

According to the trust meeting tomorrow they are opening a Request for Proposals to tenants wishing to lease or rent the old Post Office facility on 5700 S. Portland Ave.

Also the Taxiway H realignment and reconstruction contractor will be approved.

Not really any big ticket items to note. ARINC is expanding their ramp area a little bit...not much else to report on that hasn't been covered.

Was inside the terminal today, I did notice that the amount of CCTV cameras is about on par with a casino. They are everywhere in all the parking garages, they are installing the cameras at the AAR parking lots too. Also noticed the new fixtures for more in the terminal building. Can't say I have ever seen that many in an airport before.

[SkyWestOKC]

The trust on Wednesday will vote to approve an Architect and Engineering contract with C.H. Guernsey & Company for $3.1 million dollars for the construction of the Consolidated Rental Car Facility. Not sure how long the A/E stage will be, but looking forward to seeing some drawings and renderings!

[SkyWestOKC]

Latest OCAT meeting, Construction progress file indicates Atlantic Aviation is going to expand their ramp area, and so is ARINC.

Both come to no surprise as both have been extremely busy lately.

Taxiway H reconstruction and realignment is also underway. Haven't seen this before, but it looks like they are adding a paved airfield road around 17L/35R too.

[SkyWestOKC]

EA Sports, Brighton, Inmotion Entertainment, Pops (West), Bricktown Square are now open. Pops (East) is still under construction. The new stores look really good, nice and bright. They are unique and not the default stores you would see. I like them.

[Pete]

Thanks for sharing that.

But in all options, they still have "greeter lounges" on the same level as the ticket counters and security check-in.

They need to direct arriving passengers down to the lower lever BEFORE they exit security. That way people will wait downstairs, which is the whole point of separating the arrival/departure levels. I can't believe they still aren't considering this.

The two down escalators/stairs (circled below in the recommended Option 2a) should be moved to the south before you exit the secured area. Doing this would also allow for a couple extra ticket counters without expanding the terminal building:

[SkyWestOKC]

We're in complete agreement, Pete. But out of the options considered, the option that was selected (2a) was the best in regards to flow, and separation. The security checkpoints are at least out of the way of the greeter areas and the greeter areas are expanded, so it's not as congested. We do agree that they should be separated by levels, but that just wasn't in any of the options, as you point out, surprising.

[redrunner]

I've never understood why there's always mass hoards of people waiting for arriving passengers as soon as you exit in front of the escalators. I don't think I can I say that I've seen this at other major airports. Usually people wait at baggage claim or a more open area. It's like mom, dad, meemaw and papaw are waiting for little Billy to get back from his first airplane ride.

[OUman]

3) Rumor is when United and Continental combine, the will take Gates 3,5,9. Leaving the airport with Gate 10 and a total of 5 unused gates (!). There is a possibility they will take Gate 1 or Gate 11 in the future, but that is more rumor on top of the rumor. The reason for leaving Gate 10 for sure is so they will not have other airlines blocking them in, the alley on the north side of the concourse will be theirs. A lot of times Southwest will block flights from getting to/from Gate 10 when Southwest pushes out.

I've seen Southwest crews push aircraft back pretty much in a straight line, the ramp is wide enough to where if a WN 737 was pushed back right on the taxiway line next to the terminal, an RJ of United/Continental Express could easily taxi by it. On the other hand, Gate 1 would be better for possible 757 or other large(r) mainliner ops because Gate 11, like you have pointed out before, is tricky to push back from.

I've never understood why there's always mass hoards of people waiting for arriving passengers as soon as you exit in front of the escalators. I don't think I can I say that I've seen this at other major airports. Usually people wait at baggage claim or a more open area. It's like mom, dad, meemaw and papaw are waiting for little Billy to get back from his first airplane ride.

I haven't seen that happen as much, maybe I'm lucky.

[ljbab728]

I've never understood why there's always mass hoards of people waiting for arriving passengers as soon as you exit in front of the escalators. I don't think I can I say that I've seen this at other major airports. Usually people wait at baggage claim or a more open area. It's like mom, dad, meemaw and papaw are waiting for little Billy to get back from his first airplane ride.

I don't think that's a major issue except for the possible congestion. Many passengers now don't check luggage because of the cost and have no need to go to baggage claim before exiting. Unless you have prearranged a specific meeting point it's possible you might miss the person you're meeting when they arrive if you don't wait in that area. I'm not saying it's the best option just that it's a more reasonable approach than you suggest.

[kevinpate]

I've never understood why there's always mass hoards of people waiting for arriving passengers as soon as you exit in front of the escalators. I don't think I can I say that I've seen this at other major airports. Usually people wait at baggage claim or a more open area. It's like mom, dad, meemaw and papaw are waiting for little Billy to get back from his first airplane ride.

I canna speak for others but for us it comes down to this.

(a) When our elder son flies home alone, he travels carryon only. We wave, momma gets a hug, and we are car bound. Being down in the baggage area would simply cut into our limited time and it also would add to the baggage area's oft crowded condition. No thanks.

(b) When daughter flies home, it's with a grandbaby, and now there are two. SiL's military career gig means he doesn't always get to come with. So, in addition to seeing the world's most excellent grandbabies as early as possible, we are there to lend a helping hand to our daughter and grandchildren at the first available opportunity.

In days gone by, and they were not so long ago really, folks could meet flights well inside today's perimeter. We can't turn back time, but we don't have to voluntarily exile ourselves even further beyond the, mainly for show, security perimeters in place today. We don't crowd down into the ill designed bottleneck, but yeah, we arrive early enough to assure we'll be in plain sight and render assistance at first opportunity (and collect precious hugs), as do the other gp's when it is their honor to be on hand for the airport meet/greet.

I suppose that's our primary congestion reduction contribution. We rarely have both sets of GPs present at the same time.

[Jesseda]

As of right now nothing is in the works about painting or sinage in the new garage, the old garage(Garage B) is getting a face lift so to speak soon. I will report your concerns about the new Garage (Garage C)

[HOT ROD]

then why have arrivals downstairs?

arrivals is downstairs, it doesn't matter whether you have luggage or not, you're supposed to egress the airport downstairs.