I’m not sure if it was mentioned earlier, but Raleigh Brewing is coming to T1.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/05/17/raleigh-brewery-to-bring-taproom-to-rdus-terminal.html
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This just dropped into my feed…
RDU considers major terminal expansion to keep up with passenger growth.
It appears that with the slow pace of getting the new Runway 5L/23R built, they’re going to expand the length of Terminal 1 for 12 additional gates along with a ‘security bridge.’ This will be an overhead extension to Park RDU central.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article235909002.html
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Nice! T1 needs to be bigger!
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I’ve yet to use terminal 1 since the last time it was renovated. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I used it since I’m nearly exclusively an AA passenger.
That said, this looks like a nice proposal.
RDU expects 7.1 million passengers will have boarded planes at the airport this year, a number the development plan did not anticipate reaching until 2031.
That’s kind of unbelievable. 12 years ahead of schedule from a volume perspective?
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Something is suspect. If they were that far off, are these the people we want planning for the next xxx years?
They started the study when we were getting out of the Recession. I haven’t had the chance to look into the actual models they used for the garbage predictions, but I wonder if they were just being way too conservative (and assumed corporate economic growth wouldn’t recover for a while longer)?
Y’know… Occam’s razor is a thing; it’s probably not a conspiracy if there’s another, simpler (and probably more boring) reason.
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Back when the RDU Vision 2040 process was going on, I remember thinking that it was odd how all of the alternatives which had been proposed had always had T2 as some kind of mega-terminal, or there was even a T3 proposal.
But, there never was a whole lotta love for T1.
One would guess that those same planners were expecting the expansion to align with the development of the new Runway 5L/23R. And, that was with the presumption of growth from full-service legacy carriers.
However, the growth has been with newer budget carriers. So, the logical and cheaper solution is to flesh out T1 upon the footprint of the old Terminal B.
In doing so, there will be the establishment of a degree of symmetry. T1 will now have fully realized Concourse A and B like T2 has C and D.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the suggestion that the overhead bridge to Park Central RDU will have some kind of TSA screening functionality. That’s usually a post-ticketing process. Maybe the writer of the N&O was off on that idea. Will have to wait and see.
With all of that being said, getting around RDU is going to be interesting with those changes, plus the CONRAC work, and the reconfiguration of the Richard Brantley traffic loop (while still leaving room for some future kind of fixed-guideway access to the terminal complex 
)
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I always thought T2 was the better movie.
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The article also mentions the ticketing area possibly over the roadway as well. It’s difficult to discern from the overhead illustration, but the design may have a curbside passenger drop off in the same general area where it is today, but you have to take an escalator and double back over the roadway to go to ticketing and security. Those passengers coming from the parking deck or CONRAC would have a more direct route into the terminal. Presumably this would be due to the narrow footprint of the terminal. With Gensler working on the design it should have a nice look to it.
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I would be all in for vertically separating the ticketing/departures function from the baggage/arrivals function within T1 like they’ve done for T2.
Have the departures curbside traffic be on the lanes further away from the terminal, but with travelers escalating up to the overhead ticketing and security bridge. This would also merge with the inbound foot traffic from the CONRAC, ParkCentral RDU, and Ground Transportation structures. (That being said, there probably would have to be some structural hardening for that bridge due to terrorism concerns.)
Leave the curbside lanes closer to the terminal for the baggage/arrivals traffic. In the same fashion, the foot traffic for baggage/arrivals would then flow down to the existing pedestrian subway connecting to CONRAC, ParkCentral RDU, and Ground Transportation that way.
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Further graphic on the presentation made about the expansion of RDU’s T1. This is showing how Gensler is proposing to phase the project.
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T1 gets huge… It is a nice expansion
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It’s too bad they aren’t building off a better core for Terminal 1 though. Terminal 2 is beautiful and mostly double-loaded. Terminal 1 isn’t great inside and is only single-loaded. Would never be built that way today. I also dislike how you can’t go between terminals without exiting security.
But it is awesome that RDU has so much growth. I love all the new direct destinations, and have taken advantage of a few already.
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I think we should have a monorail between terminals like the Miami sky train
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Or moving Sidewalk as between T1 and T2 at O’Hare. Being it’s only a short distance between T1 and T2 do not think monorail would be best, unless it also linked in all the remote parking as well.
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Yes; if you check the DTR to rdu line thread (or one of the transit ones) I drew a map of a monorail system for rdu. I was also thinking about the sidewalk below O’Hare and heathrow connecting the spokes
I’m not sure there is a need for connecting T1 and T2. That would be mainly for passengers with connecting through RDU. Which I don’t think is very common.
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Best I would see is a pedestrian subway outside of security going from either T1 or T2 connecting to a BRT or LRT station within the shell of the old Terminal C garage. Inside of security transfer would be overhead more like DFW.
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There was an article in the TBJ about the rising number of connections through RDU, and Delta now classifies RDU as a focus city, which is a step below a hub.
“Raleigh is on a very short list of these emerging commercial centers that are going to be the large hub airports of tomorrow,” Swelbar says, pointing to Nashville and Austin as other contenders.
So maybe it isn’t needed today, but it certainly would be nice, and lack of that connectivity will probably be an increasing issue in the future…
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