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Current $4 billion redevelopment program will position it as a regional force
CHANTILLY, VA-When Washington Dulles International Airport opened in 1962, it was billed as evidence of long-range thinking for the region around the nation's capital. Yet by the 1970s, there was talk of tearing it down, h was not until the 1980s, when growth from the District began to seriously push to the northwest that Dulles began to grow into a viable international airport As with Washington Reagan National Airport, the key catalyst to Dulles's growth came with the creation of the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority. In the midst of a $4 billion capital development program, Dulles is now poised to become the regional and international -force envisioned in the 1950s. This is particularly true as the Washington metropolitan area continues its unbridled growth, and with airfield capacity constraints at the region's two other commercial airports, Reagan and Baltimore/Washington International.
Commente Dulles VP/airport manager Christopher U. Browne, "We're blessed and lucky because of the vision of others years ago, especially providing for a lot of land around the airfield. I think it's a good example of good public-use planning. It's come into its own. With all this development, we haven't had to go out and condemn neighborhoods and litigate with our neighbors. We're able to do most of this inside the perimeter fence."
Beginning in 2000, Dulles International began a nearly $4 billion construction program - known as D2 (for Dulles Development) - to meet future demand. Major projects include two new parking garages, a fourth runway, a new concourse, a new air traffic control tower, pedestrian walkways, and an airport train system, AeroTrain. A fifth runway has been permitted and could be built within five years, according to Browne.
The 12,000-acre airport features the famed award-winning main terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen and cost $108.3 million. In the 1990s the main terminal was extended on each end. It is today listed on the Historic Register.
Says Browne, "The main terminal is actually now at the full...