This article is about 7 years old

Design changes finalized for Reagan National Airport

New security checkpoint areas at Reagan National are slated to be built by the fall of 2020. Only passengers with tickets will then be allowed in the airport’s main hall. (Courtesy MWAA)
New security checkpoint areas at Reagan National are slated to be built by the fall of 2020. Only passengers with tickets will then be allowed in the airport’s main hall. (Courtesy MWAA)
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New security checkpoint areas at Reagan National are slated to be built by the fall of 2020. Only passengers with tickets will then be allowed in the airport’s main hall. (Courtesy MWAA)
In this 2015 image of the general proposed layout of the new security areas, the red marks indicate newly constructed security checkpoint areas or pathways while the purple outlines the location of the new commuter jet terminal. (Courtesy MWAA)
This 2015 design shows how passengers will move through the airport and reach the new security checkpoints. The pink areas will now entirely be behind security. (Courtesy MWAA)
This handout image shows an artists rendering of a planned commuter terminal at Reagan National Airport. The terminal is being called the North Concourse. Demolition of two hangers and the airports authority's office building could begin this spring to make room for the terminal, slated to open in 2021. (Courtesy Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority)

WASHINGTON — Going in or through Reagan National Airport will look very different within just a few years, now that designs have been finalized for a new structure to house security checkpoints between the Metro tracks and the existing terminal.

The changes, to be presented Wednesday to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors, call for the construction of new security checkpoint areas outside each entrance from the airport’s Metro station.

Documents prepared for Wednesday’s meeting show that the final design for the security changes has been completed along with work on how to do the $245 million project in phases that will allow the airport to keep running smoothly.

According to 2015 plans, the checkpoints would be on the same level as the exits and entrances to the Metro station and would include space for the security lines. Passengers getting dropped off by car would be directed down to that area from the ticketing level.

A video released in October 2016 shows substantially similar plans for the largely glass-enclosed structure.

Inside the existing airport building, the large hallway known as National Hall, which today is home to restaurants such as Ben’s Chili Bowl, would be behind the security checkpoints.

Passengers changing planes would be able to access the replacement terminal for Gate 35X and both sets of gates off National Hall without going through security again.

Walking to or from Terminal A would still require exiting the secure area and going through security again.

The Airports Authority projects a notice to proceed with construction on the new security checkpoints and related work could come this summer, with the construction completed by the fall of 2020.

A separate new $408 million regional jet concourse, which will replace Gate 35X is due to open the following summer.

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