Travelers through the San Diego International Airport will access Terminal 1 through new driver and pedestrian entrances starting Friday, Oct. 27.
The new entrances — which are a part of an ongoing effort to modernize and update the facility — will come up earlier for drivers going west on N. Harbor Drive, near Liberator Way. The new pedestrian path begins near the North Harbor Drive and Harbor Island Drive intersection.Â
The old entrance will be closed permanently, said San Diego International Airport spokesperson Nicole Hall. She said that the upgrades are part of a larger, decades-overdue change.
“When Terminal 1 opened, it was designed to handle about 2 million people in the first year. And that was in 1967,” Hall said. “In 2019, that same terminal handled almost 12 million.”
The New Terminal 1 project (abbreviated to New T1) began in late 2021 with environmental sustainability and resilience to rising sea levels in mind. It will also boast more security lanes, a play area for children, bicycle parking spaces, and other amenities.
The new entrances will also allow construction crews to work on the New T1 Parking Plaza, which is scheduled to open in late 2024. The updated structure will add 750 more parking spaces, bringing the total to 5,200. Ten percent of parking spaces in the new structure will be equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles.
The full project is expected to be completed by late 2028.