The half-century-old north tower at the Edmonton International Airport is getting a makeover and construction may impact those coming and going from the terminal over the next two years.
The airport is redeveloping its north tower, which juts out from the main terminal over the departures level vehicle drop-off zone.
The north tower first opened in 1963 and was the home of air traffic control and the airport’s corporate offices until 2013.
That’s when the eight-story Central Tower, clad in a wave-like ribbon exterior, opened as part of the airport’s 2012 expansion project.
As part of the north tower renovations, the 63,000-square-foot building is getting safety upgrades, improvements to the building envelope, modernization of elevators, refreshed interior spaces and new infrastructure to support future possible tenants.
The renovations are expected to be underway for the next two years.
Get breaking National news
As a result of construction in and around the tower, the three traffic lanes in that area of departures will be narrowed to one lane for approximately one year.
Additionally, the north pedway from the parkade is closed until the end of next week.
The airport recommends people use the south pedway or ground level to get to and from the terminal.
The airport said it’s working to minimize effects on travellers and that it will have extra people in the construction area to guide traffic and keep it moving smoothly while it’s reduced to one lane.
The tower construction is one of five major projects in the airport’s terminal revitalization project, spanning five years.
To help fund that work, the airport improvement fee is increasing from $35 to $40 per departing passenger, effective July 1.
The airport said the $5 adjustment will directly support major infrastructure upgrades that include planned terminal redevelopment and related modernization projects designed to “enhance the passenger experience and strengthen operational reliability,” as well as accommodate future growth.
If the goal is to increase the number of flights and routes flying into YEG, then you need to focus on upgrading the runway infrastructure. Currently, we are a category 1 (cat 1) facility while Calgary is a cat 3. If the airport authority would at least work towards cat 2 status, that would signal to airlines that YEG is serious about addressing airline routes. This upgrade would be costly and invisible to the general public, and therefore nothing to photograph. In the meantime, the airport authority seems to be more focused on outlet malls and golf courses instead of making the airport more attractive to airlines.
“the three traffic lanes in that area of departures will be narrowed to one lane for approximately one year”
We just went through a closure of the departures area and now they are restricting traffic again? The airports are like governments they don’t care about the people and they increase taxes/fees to pay for whatever goofy idea that they come up with.