A $22 Billion Program for Dulles
The plan Washington Dulles International Airport needs. But at what cost?
Washington Dulles International Airport may soon look a lot like Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, just with better architecture.
Under a proposed revitalization plan shared with airlines earlier in May and viewed exclusively by Airport Architecture, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) outlined a terminal expansion, four new linear concourses and new subterranean circulation — no Direct Jet Transports — all to be complete by 2034. It is the authority’s master plan for Dulles executed at rocket speed.
Gone is the “temporary” Concourse C-D. As are the jet-age mobile lounges and planemates, at least for regular operations. The presentation makes no mention of whether a few would be kept for irregular operations or as museum pieces for architect Eero Saarinen’s vision for Dulles.
President Trump, whose disdain for the mobile lounges is known, would almost certainly approve.
Here’s the kicker: the full build-out, underground train extensions and all, in just eight years would cost after inflation and financing costs a cool $22 billion, not including any potential delays or cost overruns.
The plan for Dulles presented to airlines comes after the Trump administration launched a push to revitalize the airport in December. That push, seemingly like all of the administration’s efforts to remake Washington, would occur at lightning speed. If approved, the plan as is would turn Dulles into what the airport has long dreamed of becoming: an efficient world-class airline hub.
Dulles could become the Atlanta machine with iconic architecture.
Importantly, the proposal appears to keep the iconic Saarinen-designed main terminal, the loss of which would amount to a national cultural tragedy of staggering proportions. The presentation outlines a “ticket counter renovation” and 300-ft extension of the building to both the east and west. Neither project would necessarily detract from Saarinen’s vision for the building. In fact, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill more than doubled the length of the terminal in 1999.
And while I and my boys will miss the mobile lounges, I doubt many others will.
A MWAA spokesperson, when asked about the proposed plan, deferred to the federal government: “The Airports Authority is awaiting an official announcement of the government’s decision on plans to enhance Washington Dulles International Airport, after which we can further discuss this important initiative.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Now, about those costs.
