PITTSTON TWP. -- It would be unfair to say that no expense was spared in constructing the new Joseph M. McDade Terminal Building at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. But it would be just as inaccurate to call the airport authority penny pinchers.
Tuesday, Airport Director Barry Centini took the role of tour guide, leading about a dozen media members through the partially completed building, which will feature soaring pine beams, terrazzo floors and plenty of Pennsylvania stone in its interior spaces.
Acknowledging the stone is very expensive, Centini remarked, "We think once the public sees this, they're going to be wowed by it."
Centini hopes the terminal, which he said is costing $55 million, will be ready for passengers as early as February. Both the timeline and price vary from original estimates. In 1999, the entire airport expansion project, which includes new roadways, a parking garage and improvements to runways, was projected to cost $54.5 million and be finished in 2002. As late as 2003, the terminal was projected at $32 million to $35 million, with completion this fall. Now, all the improvements add up to $80 million, Centini said.
So, what are taxpayers, travelers and airlines getting for their money?
While it doesn't look that much bigger from the street, the new facility contains about 132,000 square feet of space, compared to 72,000 square feet for the existing terminal, built 45 years ago. "There's really another whole building behind it," Centini said of the façade.
Four entrance doors will welcome visitors at street level, into the first floor that contains the "ticket hall" and baggage claim area. People who parked in the garage will be whisked by escalators to or from the terminal. A tunnel below the street keeps them out of the elements until they emerge to a "plaza" at the base of the garage.
Once inside, travelers will check in baggage and purchase tickets, then head upstairs, again via escalator, to what Centini characterizes as "the core of the building." When they reach the second level, they'll be gazing out plate glass windows at green hills, and making a choice; turn left to the chapel or right to the concessions, security screening and new concourse.
"The topography pretty much drove the design," Centini said, and the vistas will be complemented by the work of local artists and artisans in wall, window and floor art, and a mobile.
Or they might want to make a stop at the "club room," which Centini said would be available to the airport's frequent flyers, offering a large-screen TV, a business center and other amenities.
The concourse has six gates, and all passengers on jet flights will board from there. If their carry-on luggage doesn't fit, it will be lowered to the tarmac on a special elevator added on for that purpose, at a cost of between $25,000 and $30,000 each. Passengers on turbo-props will walk to their planes from a first-floor waiting area.
What the new terminal doesn't have is room for new airlines, since all six boarding areas are now spoken for. But, "the building is designed for future expansion," said Al Brocavich, director of engineering. Adding gates would take about six months. "That's how long it takes them to draft an agreement anyway," he said.
The forecast need for this expansion came out of a master plan conducted in 1992, Brocavich said. Where the present terminal can accommodate a maximum of 240,000 boarding passengers yearly, the new facility can handle 360,000.
While not approaching even the present capacity, airport traffic has grown about 10 percent this year. "We're one of the few airports that are growing, and we don't know why," Brocavich said.
With that in mind, airport officials have been working on a new plan that will look ahead 20 years, even before the paint is dry on this project.
See more photos of the new airport terminal at www.timesleader.com
