KCRag Forum

Exactly Grid.  People are used to walking a ways in an airport for services.  I have walked huge distances to get a particular meal at places like Atlanta, Chicago and CDG.  The beauty of KCI is with the round terminals people don't see the distance they are walking! 

I just can't stop looking at voltopt's rendering. To me, that is such an awesome idea. Think about all the amenities we could have in that central terminal. Then we'd only need 3 security checkpoints, one for each terminal. We could make it modern-looking (something very state of the art) and it would show the contrast between the old and new parts of the airport. It could maybe be elevated above the others to show its dominance as the main drop-off and pick-up area, and be connected by skywalks to the other 3 terminals. That way people could still drive beneath the connectors to park in the middle areas of the 3 terminals. To me, the sky's the limit. Talk about a world-class facility. Hopefully KCI traffic keeps going up so this becomes an issue in the near future.

Maybe we can turn international circle into this!  Nah...

I love the symmetry of adding a central terminal and agree that visually it could be stunning.  I could see the central traffic control tower rising out of the center of the building.  However, it doesn't address any additional gate needs.  That area is also HUGE.  The building would be hundreds of thousands of square feet while not adding any new flight capacity.  

KCTigerFan wrote: I love the symmetry of adding a central terminal and agree that visually it could be stunning.  I could see the central traffic control tower rising out of the center of the building.  However, it doesn't address any additional gate needs.  That area is also HUGE.  The building would be hundreds of thousands of square feet while not adding any new flight capacity.  

True. Maybe they could add a D terminal onto the complex as well, along with the main central one. But as far as funding goes.....

Grid, is that SFO in san francisco?

unless he puts funny filenames on his pictures just to throw us off it is (i clicked on the view image to look myself out of curiosity).

GRID wrote: Not a bad idea voltopt, but KCI has spent over half billion on the airport in the past few years.  I think they are done.  Plus if light rail ever reaches KCI, they will loose a ton of revenue.

its unfortunate, but maybe down the road this improvement can be made.
the best thing about it is is leaves most of the existing improvements intact, minus the gate by gate security zones.

really its just a new building, some barricades, and three security bridges (whether these are under the drop off road or over is irrelevant - i've seen it done both ways in other airports)  still expensive, but most of the improvements to the terminals could remain - except that baggage claim, ticketing, etc. would logically move to the new central terminal area.  the existing food options in each terminal could remain.

shaffe wrote: unless he puts funny filenames on his pictures just to throw us off it is (i clicked on the view image to look myself out of curiosity).

I remember back in 1985 when I first went to sfo airport it was being renovated. I guess the construction will never stop there. Always growing.

voltopt wrote: but most of the improvements to the terminals could remain - except that baggage claim, ticketing, etc. would logically move to the new central terminal area.  the existing food options in each terminal could remain.

I know this is all hypothetical b.s. for now, but wouldn't it make sense to keep the bagage claim in the existing terminals so people wouldn't have to walk so far to get their bags? And they wouldn't have to go back through security if they had a connecting flight in the same terminal. Then put all the nice restaurants/entertainment/shopping in the main terminal.

voltopt wrote: Here is a schematic for how the airport could upgrade to a central terminal without building entirely new.
first off, each of the three terminals would become the plane access areas.  there would be three security checkpoints, one at the entrance to each terminal, which would be at the existing opening into the terminal circles.  that opening would be connected across the drop off road to the central circle, which would be the main terminal, with ticketing, baggage, etc.  drop off would be on the existing main circle drive, and would be to the internal main circle.  the parking garages could still exist as short term parking, as long as all access moved to the central ring to security and then back into the circles.
Of course, this would save money on security, as each of the three terminals would only have one access point, and the entire terminal would become an open ring of shops, food places, and gates on one side.
the internal side of each terminal would be completely blocked off from the old roads and garages.

That idea is the one of the best ones I have ever heard. It wouldn't be too expensive, plus it would alleviate our security issue. With a design like that, we could make KCI into a hub very easily.

voltopt,

That is a tremendous idea... I think a centralized main terminal would be great for security measures, a new hotel, and new restaurants/attractions.. Then from the main terminal, you can take a walkway to either terminal A,B,C..  I believe terminal C already can accomodate Int'l flights (Mexico,Canada, etc.)  Then, we could eliminate another sprawling terminal D.

But it sounds almost too good, which means that it will get shot down.  Just like DT baseball.

voltopt wrote: Here is a schematic for how the airport could upgrade to a central terminal without building entirely new.
first off, each of the three terminals would become the plane access areas.  there would be three security checkpoints, one at the entrance to each terminal, which would be at the existing opening into the terminal circles.  that opening would be connected across the drop off road to the central circle, which would be the main terminal, with ticketing, baggage, etc.  drop off would be on the existing main circle drive, and would be to the internal main circle.  the parking garages could still exist as short term parking, as long as all access moved to the central ring to security and then back into the circles.
Of course, this would save money on security, as each of the three terminals would only have one access point, and the entire terminal would become an open ring of shops, food places, and gates on one side.
the internal side of each terminal would be completely blocked off from the old roads and garages.

I think this is one of the more brilliant ideas I have seen on this board.  I have long been a proponent of more traditional design for KCI so that KC could attract a hub and some meaningful overseas connections (although we would give up a lot in convenience).  The scale of the whole thing is a bit massive and you would definately need people movers from the central terminal into the individual terminals which would effectively become concourses.  Actually the existing terminals are really not that big so they are already fairly walkable.  I am afraid, however, that Grid is right that we have spent a bundle of money on the airport so I suspect it would be 20 years down the road before anything like this was ever approved. 

Voltopt, the new central terminal is a great idea. Get to work on it immediately. 

I would enhance your design in the following ways.

I'd connect all three terminals with skywalks behind the security checkpoint so people can move about all three terminals without having to go through security each time.  This is so some passengers can switch planes to another airline if that is how they are traveling. For example, Continental from Chicago to Kansas City, then Midwest Airlines to Columbia.

I'd add a Terminal D so more gates would be available for the future.  However, with Terminal D, I'd use the terminal core as a meditation garden. People with long waits between flights might enjoy it.  Of course, there would be one of Kansas City's famous fountains.  It would also give smokers a nice place to hang-out without violating indoor smoking bans.

I would advocate that the new central terminal be a glass dome, so that natural light could come into the terminal.  Then one could design the terminal space to be like a botanical garden of sorts with sculpture and art.  This would be a very calming environment for stressed-out travelers.  It would also make our airport distinctive and pleasant.  Throw in a couple of giant fish aquariums as well to give people something to look at. In addition, having amenities like gym, showers, spa, massage therapists, and chiropractors onsite would be great.

I've added a light rail hub to your design that connects with the central terminal in a turnaround design.  The rail hub is connected directly to the terminal so passengers don't have to go out into inclement weather to transfer. It would also be great for airport employees to use to get to work.  Under some situations, some passengers stuck in ice and winters storms could take light rail to Union Station and then take Amtrak elsewhere. That way, if people are stuck for days like in Denver, they have easy connections to other modes of travel.

Anticipating the comfort needs of stranded travelers who end up sleeping in the terminals, I've added two hotels that are connected by skywalks. This will give passengers who are stranded a place to spend the night in comfort without having to go to a lot of trouble riding shuttle buses, or taxis. The hotels are in short walking distance, and thus aren't dependent on shuttle bus schedules, and time worries.  The access also allows them to leave the hotel and frequent the terminal at the variety of restaurants and shops.

It also anticipates the occasions when one has already checked their bags, and don't want to have to go through security again.  This way, if their non-carry-on luggages is already placed in bag check, they don't have to deal with that. They can just walk to the hotel, sleep, and come back without a lot of trouble.  

This will also make it easier to make a plane should the flight be delayed for just several hours.  Under this scenario, the passenger can check into a hotel room, sleep for a few hours, and have the airline call them in their room if plane is placed back on the schedule.  Then, once they are called, they can just walk over to the terminal, walk through the metal scanner, and get on the plane.

The other nice thing is with a light rail connection, if they have several hours of delay, they could take a ride into the city for amusement.

I recall one time being delayed for six hours in at the Pittsburgh airport. Something happened when the systems alarm went off during our taxi on the tarmac, so we had to deboard the plane and wait for another to be flown in from some other city, get restocked, refueled, etc. I was bored out of my mind, and very tired.  It was a suck-ass airport too. It seems much worse than KCI.

I would have killed to have an on-site hotel to crash for five hours or so and sleep, watch TV in privacy, and take a shower.  Having amusements like a meditation garden or fish aquariums to look at would have reduced my stress-level as well.  I've also thought it would be great if airports had small in-house libraries for people to spend their time waiting during delays. You could look at coffee table books on photography, architecture, gardening, history, etc., while you waited. Ours could be stocked with all the books on Kansas City, and area attractions. I'm sure that airport employees would enjoy it as well on their lunch-hours.

Had Pittsburgh had a light-rail connection, I could have at least taken a ride into downtown Pittsburgh and looked around for a couple of hours.  I've heard that people with hours to spare between flights in Atlanta take MARTA into the city.

Yeah, who do we lobby to get this to happen?
But seriously, i'd love to make a more professional looking graphic and develop some sort of simple write up to send to a publication or some powers-that-be.  I don't really know how ideas like this get off the ground (no pun intended).  I'm sure the Kansas City Aviation Committee has at least thought of this idea, but maybe it could become a push akin to the new DIA in Denver, which placed that city as a major hub in the trans continental business.  Kansas City has languished for awhile in this regard - some sort of major investment like this would really help the region out.

the central terminal should be striking, but it doesn't need to take up the entire central area or replace the existing control tower.
in fact, it could only take up half of the circle and still be rather impressive, as long as the connection to the existing terminals, or concourses as they could be called, was clear.  i agree that security could be inside the central terminal and that way each terminal is freely connected with each terminal - there probably would still be more than one security area due to congestion and such.
the best part is that most of the old infrastructure could be reused, but the airport would become infinitely more versatile and important as a hub. 
an airline like southwest or whoever could use an entire terminal D for their operations.

so, who do we call to get this idea out there?

It would be great if the airport terminal had a small museum inside where travelers with spare time could go and learn about Kansas City through diagrams, narrated kiosks, exhibits, and photographs.  

Perhaps they could also run the feature films, PBS videos, and documentaries about Kansas City topics: The American Presidents: Harry S. Truman; David McCollough's "TRUMAN;" Robert Altman's "Kansas City;" "Mr. Kansas City: the life of Buck O'Neil;" "Over here: the story of Kansas City & World War II;" "A city within a park: one hundred years of parks and boulevards in Kansas City, Missouri;" "Whizzo, Ol' Gus & me : the lost history of Kansas City kid shows;" "The Kansas City Monarchs: ain't seen nothing like it since;" "The history of the Kansas City stockyards, 1930-1980;" "Kansas City: city of fountains;" "Nelly Don: A Stitch in Time;" "Uniquely Kansas City;" "Discover Kansas City;" and "Kansas City Crossroads."

Any mods want to roll up our multiple "new airport" discussions and toss them into the trasportation sub forum?

voltopt wrote: maybe it could become a push akin to the new DIA in Denver, which placed that city as a major hub in the trans continental business.  Kansas City has languished for awhile in this regard

Not when it comes to rail, where we're the second-busiest hub after Chicago. When the Gardner intermodal facility opens, we might be tops in trucking, too.

KC0KEK wrote: Not when it comes to rail, where we're the second-busiest hub after Chicago. When the Gardner intermodal facility opens, we might be tops in trucking, too.

true, very true.