After a makeover of Terminal 2 that finished late last year, the San Diego Airport Authority now is considering the long-term plan for the San Diego International Airport. At a media briefing Friday, the Airport Authority said that planning is underway on the next phase of the master plan.
The Airport Development Plan includes improving parking and replacing Terminal 1.
“It was really built and designed at a time when we really didn’t have the TSA requirements for security that we do today, and some of the aircraft maneuvering demands that we have,” said the Airport Authority’s Keith Wilschetz.
The Airport Authority presented three proposed plans to improve access to the airport and accommodate more parking demand through 2035, when the airport is expected to have 28 million passengers a year. The most significant change would remove traffic from Harbor Drive.
“What this would do in the Airport Development Plan is really remove all the traffic off Harbor Drive, at least between Laurel and the westside of the airport, and that’s something that’s very, very important to us,” Wilschetz said.
The Airport Authority already has started rerouting airport deliveries and other commercial traffic off Harbor Drive. An environmental review will take a couple of years, and public feedback is being sought over the next few months, starting with an Airport Development Plan open house next week. The Airport Authority estimates the entire planning and environmental review process will be complete in 2016.
“We want to know what people think about the airport and specifically how they would like Terminal 1 to be rebuilt,” Wilschetz said.
