Will Rogers World Airport

[Pete]

Yes, and they used to have a little observation tower within the terminal arm and anyone could access it, whether you had a plane ticket or not.

And people used to be able to greet you at the gate.

[Martin]

Yes, and they used to have a little observation tower within the terminal arm and anyone could access it, whether you had a plane ticket or not.

i think you had to pay a dime to activate the turnstile to get up there. my folks would tell me that was the original control tower, which may or may not be true.

[OKCDrummer77]

^huh... must have been before my time as i don't recall ever seeing that. they've had carousels in baggage claim as far back as i can remember... sometime in the early to mid 80's... a time when anybody could just walk out to the terminal and there were banks of coin-operated tv's for people to sit and watch.

edit: found a pic!

In college (late 90s), I was often tasked with shutting friends to and from the airport because I (1) had a car and (2) knew how to get to the airport from Oklahoma Christian University, a not-insignificant drive. I remember being able to accompany them right up to the gate, after passing a metal detector. Good times.

[BoulderSooner]

Yes, and they used to have a little observation tower within the terminal arm and anyone could access it, whether you had a plane ticket or not.

And people used to be able to greet you at the gate.

greeting at the gate i believe lasted all the way until 9/11

[catch22]

The TSA has a program to allow airports to permit non-flying public access to post-security areas. As far as I know, there aren't a ton of hurdles to this but TSA staffing is one of them. I believe this also requires an increase of TSA audits at the gate to ensure boarding passes match ID. (because theoretically I could buy a ticket in my name and give my boarding pass to someone else; they could use a gate-pass in their name to get through security then use my boarding pass to board as IDs are rarely checked at the gate)

There are a few airports that do this, I believe Tampa and Columbus run this program. Denver is looking into it for when the Great Hall project is completed as there will be more shopping options in the main terminal. This has to be an airport initiative, not led by the TSA.

[HOT ROD]

Baggage claim capacity could be increased with traditional carousel type bag claim units - The ones you see in larger airports instead of the looped flat plate system.

In Denver, United has 6 bag claim units which together handle an average claim volume of around 12,000 bags per day.

The airport can survive easily off of 6 provided they were the higher capacity carousels.

PDX uses the flat ones (however they are probably double or triple the running length) and they make due with 10 units (for an airport that handles 5 times the passenger volume of OKC)

I thought PDX was around ~16m pre-coronavirus, which would be 4-times OKC's 4.4m.

[catch22]

Barely shy of 20 million for 2018 and 2019.

[unfundedrick]

i think you had to pay a dime to activate the turnstile to get up there. my folks would tell me that was the original control tower, which may or may not be true.

I went up in that tower a number of times and don't think it was ever a control tower.

[unfundedrick]

This is what the view from the tower and the luggage claim area looked like.


This is what the terminal looked like when I first started flying.

[Celebrator]

This is what the view from the tower and the luggage claim area looked like.


This is what the terminal looked like when I first started flying.

Really cool photos, thank you for sharing. I wish that great art-deco terminal building could have been saved for adaptive re-use.

[HOT ROD]

I went up in that tower a number of times and don't think it was ever a control tower.

too bad there wasn;t a way to keep that observation/control tower. It was a gem and would be awesome today.

[HOT ROD]

Really cool photos, thank you for sharing. I wish that great art-deco terminal building could have been saved for adaptive re-use.

any idea where the original terminal was located?

[Snowman]

any idea where the original terminal was located?

It looks like it was in the current general aviation area, west of Meridian, south of Amelia Earhart lane. Plus the original runways were in the northwest corner of the current layout.

My best guess is a little south of SW66th. From a current satellite photo you can see a curve in the tarmac likely related to the fence in the picture, it looks like one of the current taxiways is in that photo, and today there is an angled scar of a removed taxiway plausibly continuing from what is seen in the lower left of the picture.

[Urbanized]

greeting at the gate i believe lasted all the way until 9/11

Prior to (I believe) the 1993 World Trade Center attack you could walk to the gate without even going through a metal detector. Literally no security screening; passengers and non-passengers alike. As a kid it was super exciting to go hang out at the gate to see someone off or to greet them coming out of the jetway. It was pretty routine to go have a meal with someone in one of the concourse restaurants before their flight, have a drink with them in one of the bars, etc.

Then there were metal detectors added in response to that first WTC attack. Anyone could still go to the gate to see someone off and/or greet them. If you could clear a metal detector, you were in.

Then of course 9/11 happened and all bets were off. Way more innocent (or perhaps naive) time.

[Martin]

it's friday, so i did a little sleuthing regarding the original terminal. i think the current layout is from 1969... here is an aerial from 1964. the two hangars just north of the old terminal are still there, so it provided a pretty good point of reference for both position and scale. here is a detail of the area and a comp showing where the terminal would be situated today. i linked the files since they're pretty big.

1964 usgs aerial

composite between 1964 and now

[shawnw]

This is what the terminal looked like when I first started flying.

Would have been cool if during the major renovation that got us to our current look could have built some stylistic tribute to this original terminal.

[Celebrator]

it's friday, so i did a little sleuthing regarding the original terminal. i think the current layout is from 1969... here is an aerial from 1964. the two hangars just north of the old terminal are still there, so it provided a pretty good point of reference for both position and scale. here is a detail of the area and a comp showing where the terminal would be situated today. i linked the files since they're pretty big.

1964 usgs aerial

composite between 1964 and now

So neat to find this info out. Thanks for the work you put into that composite image.

[unfundedrick]

Prior to (I believe) the 1993 World Trade Center attack you could walk to the gate without even going through a metal detector. Literally no security screening; passengers and non-passengers alike. As a kid it was super exciting to go hang out at the gate to see someone off or to greet them coming out of the jetway. It was pretty routine to go have a meal with someone in one of the concourse restaurants before their flight, have a drink with them in one of the bars, etc.

Then there were metal detectors added in response to that first WTC attack. Anyone could still go to the gate to see someone off and/or greet them. If you could clear a metal detector, you were in.

Then of course 9/11 happened and all bets were off. Way more innocent (or perhaps naive) time.

And of course in the good old days they virtually never checked any identification or really even looked at the name on a ticket. If Mary wanted to fly and had a ticket in Joe's name all she had to do was have the boarding pass and walk on the plane. If they did ask for ID at check-in, Joe could show his ID and then hand his boarding pass to Mary.

[brianinok]

Is there any chance OKC will have Clear once the expansion is fully open and operating?

[DelCamino]

I'm curious about the laying of the tarmac surface at WRWA, and maybe there's a construction person out there who knows --- the tarmac is being laid. I saw where the workers first put down a base of sand and gravel, then on top of it, some kind of hard surface that looked to be about 8 to 10" thick. Now the final surface is being laid, well over a foot thick, and I'm wondering - a traditional concrete truck isn't being used, but instead, a dump truck that's feeding the concrete machine. Is this material concrete? Something else? I saw where no re-bar was used. What is this stuff? Thanks......

[Pete]

^

I've been watching that as well. See below for a larger photo.

I know they sometimes use those paving machines in highway construction. Concrete is poured into their hopper then a strip of pavement goes down at a calibrated depth.


I guess they do this in strips then fill in between with a more traditional concrete pour?

[LakeEffect]

I'm curious about the laying of the tarmac surface at WRWA, and maybe there's a construction person out there who knows --- the tarmac is being laid. I saw where the workers first put down a base of sand and gravel, then on top of it, some kind of hard surface that looked to be about 8 to 10" thick. Now the final surface is being laid, well over a foot thick, and I'm wondering - a traditional concrete truck isn't being used, but instead, a dump truck that's feeding the concrete machine. Is this material concrete? Something else? I saw where no re-bar was used. What is this stuff? Thanks......

It's concrete, but really thick. They do this in the odd-looking strips so that they can insert the dowel rods into each panel so the pavement doesn't heave over time (IIRC). This type of truck can transport concrete faster, but it doesn't last as long. They use it when the concrete batch plant is located close enough.

[DelCamino]

It's concrete, but really thick. They do this in the odd-looking strips so that they can insert the dowel rods into each panel so the pavement doesn't heave over time (IIRC). This type of truck can transport concrete faster, but it doesn't last as long. They use it when the concrete batch plant is located close enough.

That all makes perfect sense. Thanks!

[catch22]

It's called a slipform paver and used for big jobs like this and highway construction. Once every other strip is done, the machine will be moved up to the completed grade and will straddle the unpoured section and pave those. They lay the rebar on chairs near the bottom of the pour as that is where concrete fails first. Once you see a crack on the top of concrete, it means the bottom has failed way before. A lot of changes happen underneath concrete that are not visible with settling, water intrusion, and soil shifting over time. Having the reinforcement at the bottom keeps it together for longer.

But, it is a rule of life. Ice cream melts and concrete cracks. Can't be avoided, only delayed.

[catch22]

Also, asphalt is becoming a common base material now for heavy-duty applications where enhanced longevity is desired. A crushed recycled-concrete base will be used and compacted, and then a 5-8" deep asphalt application, and then topped with re-inforced concrete.

The I-44 Turnpike reconstruction near Tulsa used this method. Crushed concrete base, asphalt on top of that, and then the final thickness being concrete applied from a slipform paver.