Tag Archives: terminal

New Bradley Midfield Terminal

When I was last at LAX, there was plenty of construction underway in the middle of the field.  The Bradley International Terminal was being expanded to accommodate the growth that had taken place.  This was all pre-pandemic of course.  On this visit, it looked like everything was complete.  The new midfield terminal area was looking finished and there were aircraft on the gates including a China Southern A380.  With that fleet due for retirement, that might be my last chance to see one.  Not sure whether I will get to use the terminal or not but it looked good.

Container Terminal Evening

Evening light can make many things look better than they do in the middle of the day.  The warm evening light just makes things look better with the warm color and the softer shadows.  In those conditions, even a container terminal looks interesting.  From the roof of the hotel we were staying in downtown last year, we got a good view across Elliott Bay towards the terminal.

Island Ferry Terminals

The San Juan Islands were our escape a couple of times during the limits on travel that COVID provided.  Getting to the islands involves a ferry trip and I will always enjoy that.  One of the things that I find interesting about the ferry terminals on the islands is how simple they are.  When we lived in the UK, the ferries were constantly expanding in their usage and the terminals were all getting upgraded to accommodate more vehicles.  They also had shops and food outlets.

The San Juans are far lower key.  The terminals are often in remote locations (accepting that the islands are generally pretty remote anyway) and they are tucked away looking far more like part of the coastline.  As we travel on the ferries, we get to see some that we stop at and others we pass.  Here are a few of the ones I have photographed from the water.

Fauntleroy Terminal

Continuing my lockdown hobby of checking out ferry services, I took a trip to West Seattle to see the terminal for Washington State Ferries at Fauntleroy.  The service here goes to Vashon Island and Southworth – trips that I have yet to make but I would like to go cycling on Vashon at some point so I might get to use it then.  I chose a pretty unpleasant day to make my trip there.  Winter doesn’t provide reliable weather but the weekend is the only free time so you get what you are given.

The terminal is right next to Lincoln Park.  I walked through the park to the water and strolled along the shore.  A ferry was heading out at this time and, since the schedule was quite infrequent at that time of day, that was all I got to see move.  I walked along the water and back to the road heading down to the terminal itself.  It is not much of a terminal to be honest.  Some holding lanes for the cars and not a lot else.  Compared to the new Mukilteo terminal it is very low key.  There is a little public park and beach just below the terminal which I briefly checked out but the increasing intensity of the rain meant I didn’t stay around too long!

Demolition of the Old Mukilteo Terminal

With the new terminal open and operational at Mukilteo, the construction crews have turned their attention to the demolition of the old terminal facilities.  The redevelopment of the waterfront includes returning this old space for new usage.  The old terminal building was not a particularly impressive structure but now it looks very sad as everything is taken down.

Across the road, the old lanes for holding the cars prior to boarding are still visible but some of the area has already been cut through by the new access road construction for the terminal.  One side of the old lot was briefly the home for one of the toll booths which looked rather feeble on its own.  Next time I was there, it was gone.

The old span that connected to the berth has been lifted out.  It was sitting on a barge on my last visit.  A large floating crane had been brought in for the large lifts where a smaller crane had previously been in use.  The structures were in the process of being removed.  The concrete top to one side had been removed and the posts showed the damage from the cuts.  The other side had a crew preparing the lifting lines to take that side off too.

It won’t be too long before all trace of the old terminal is gone and then it will be very hard to remember what it looked like at all.

New Mukilteo Terminal

Washington State Ferries have opened their first new terminal in 40 years.  Calling it a new terminal is a bit deceptive – it is a replacement for an existing terminal – but it is definitely a new place for the ferries to come in.  It is the new Mukilteo terminal and it is located about a third of a mile from the previous terminal.  That one was right at the end of Mukilteo Speedway next to the lighthouse.  The new location is east along the shore near the old Air Force tank farm location.

The construction has been underway for a while and the switch over happened on December 29, 2020.  The ferries didn’t run for much of that day as they moved some key equipment across from the old location.  Additionally, the crews took the opportunity to get practice with berthing in the new facility.  The transition was done ahead of the holiday to make sure that the surge in traffic over New Year wasn’t affected.

I took a walk along the shore on two days later to see what it all looked like.  The weather was hardly delightful but it was December in the Pacific Northwest so no great shock there.  Additionally, not everything was complete.  The main facilities are open but they have yet to install the passenger footbridge.  That will go in around February/March time.  For now, passenger walk across the road access (not while cars are there, of course!).

That also means some of the construction equipment is still in place.  A large floating crane is still there and will be, I assume, until the footbridge is completed.  They are also tidying up some of the other elements but they should be done pretty soon.

There is a new toll plaza on the entrance to the holding lots.  I didn’t go up to take a look at that but I did get some photos from a distance.  The demand for service was really high on this day with everyone heading home for their New Year celebrations.  Despite the large holding lanes, it was full and traffic was waiting beyond the plaza and up the hill.

The main building is a really elegant structure.  Lots of wood construction and styled on a native long house, it contains an information center, a ticket office and some other facilities.  There is lots of native art decorating it both inside and out including a cool boat hanging from the roof.  The building is elevated over the road access.  The ramp for loading comes straight in to the shore and leads directly under the building.  It means you have a nice elevated view of the boats as the come and go.

There is a waterfront trail that runs from up near the lighthouse to a park further to the east so you can walk along the shore to see the facilities and watch the boats.  Near the terminal, there are many information boards giving some history of the region and these are quite educational.  On a sunnier day, I can imagine there will be plenty of people enjoying this part of the shoreline and checking out the ferry traffic.

Orcas Hotel and Ferry Terminal

The ferry to Orcas Island comes in to the town of Orcas.  (I think it counts as a town but it is pretty small!).  Right across from the ferry terminal is the Orcas Hotel.  It is an old style hotel and has a café as well.  Restrictions meant eating in the café was out of the question but we did get take out food from there one night and it was great.  The south facing harbor gets some nice evening light in the winter.  The first time I was out walking there, I figured I would get a shot after I visited the local shop.  That was a mistake.  When I came out, the lovely light was gone and everything was in shadow.  I didn’t make the same mistake again.

Washington National

IMG_2811.jpgIt has been quite a while since I last flew in to National Airport in Washington DC (or Virginia if you are being accurate). My recent visit to DC took me through the airport but not through the main terminal that I have used in the last decade. Southwest operate from the original terminal which, I have to admit, I didn’t realize was still in use.

IMG_2812.jpgThis is quite a distance from the rest of the airport and so you have a ten minute walk to get to the access to the metro station. It takes you all the way through the original terminal building which is a pretty impressive art deco structure. I did not have a camera other than that on my phone but I did grab a few quick pictures of this building which seems to have been restored as it is in good condition. It seems to be a bit of a gem that is missed by most people traveling through the airport.

DIA Terminal

wpid11510-AU0E7335-Edit.jpgUnlike living in Chicago where you had a strong chance of getting a direct flight to most places, I often find myself changing planes in other cities these days. Sometimes the layover is a quick one and others I have a bit of time to stretch my legs and get something to eat. I recently went through Denver en route to my destination. The terminal that Southwest use at Denver has an interesting center section. A shuttle system takes people between terminals below the ground. It comes in to the heart of the building in an open section that you can look in to from the main terminal level. It appears to be designed to look like an ancient ruin that has been unearthed.

wpid11508-AU0E1027.jpgHanging above it is a Learjet which obviously gets a passing look from me. I was more interested this time in the “ruins”. A panorama seemed like the best option so I took the shots to stitch together later. As it happened, the return leg came back through DIA although this time it was late in the day. I did get some shots of the main terminal building as we taxied out for departure. It certainly is a striking structure.

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