Travelers to see prep work for new terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport

Travelers this spring will start seeing the prep work for a three-year, $1.1 billion construction project this summer that will build a new terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Airport visitors will begin to see construction trailers and new walls and fencing built to isolate the construction area from existing facilities, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

Crews also will finish preparing the site before construction begins in earnest this summer.

Prep work includes:

• Construction of access roads
• New security gates and fencing
• Demolition of former E Gates
• Construction trailer complex area
• New service elevator in Concourse D
• Capping an underground fuel line

“First and foremost, we’re an operating airport, but we also recognize that we’re embarking on a major capital program that needs to remain on schedule and on budget,” Perfecto Solis, the executive program manager, said in a statement. “We have established our main construction haul route off the Route 30 (Clinton) exit on I-376 and along Taxiway Bravo, so that we can have a dedicated access point to bring in the heavy trucks and equipment, cranes, beams, etc., away from airport infrastructure and off of public airport roadways.”

Bidding on all construction work is expected to be finished before year’s end. The project is scheduled for completion in 2023.

It includes a new landside terminal connected to the existing airside terminal, a multilevel parking garage with approximately 3,000 spaces and a new roadway system for terminal access.

Plans also call for support facilities, including a quick turn-around area for rental cars and lots for commercial vehicles and cellphone usage.

Airport officials said visitors and passengers should experience minimal inconvenience.

The existing landside terminal and access roads will continue normal operations along with an underground shuttle to the airside terminal. An existing parking garage outside the landslide terminal will remain along with the long-term and extended parking lots.

Officials have not yet determined what will happen to the landside terminal once the new one opens. It will either be reused or demolished.

The project is the airport’s first major airport overhaul since it opened in 1992. It replaced the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, which opened 1952.

County officials opted to build a new terminal, saying the existing facilities were outdated, too costly to maintain and did not meet current needs. The project is expected to reduce operating and maintenance costs by $23 million a year.