After more than 10 years of plotting, moving, destroying and rebuilding, the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Sunday unveiled the capstone of its more than half-billion-dollar makeover: A $200 million overhaul of concourses A and B.

The final two-year project brings polish, art and panache to a section of airport that was once a "dark and dreary place," according to an airport official. It will open up more food and shopping options and reduce crowding by moving the security checkpoint away from the top of the escalators at the main lobby, airport officials say.

The 350,000-square-foot makeover came on the heels of a $301.3 million overhaul at Concourse C and marks the end of 11 years of renovation, Airport Manager John Parrott said.

"We've got some little pieces and parts around that will probably be worked on until next spring, but this is the last big part in our construction," Parrott said. "After this, we should be just setting and running for a while."

Beginning today, passengers will start filtering through a new, six-lane security checkpoint where the food court was until a few years ago. This checkpoint lies to the left of the current entrance for Concourse C. The existing security site eventually will be dismantled, though the passenger exit between the two concourses at the top of the escalators will remain.

Behind security, concourses B and C are now connected for foot traffic, meaning passengers can go between them to shop and eat while waiting for flights without having to submit to another round of screening.

Some flights will begin operating out of B Concourse today, and airlines including Delta, Continental and US Airways, which have been based in the North Terminal since construction closed Concourse B in October 2007, should be finished moving back to the South Terminal by Nov. 15, Parrott said.

Bill Popp, president and chief executive of Anchorage Economic Development Corp., said the makeover is important for strengthening the way the city first strikes visitors.

"This is a major improvement to an older part of the airport," Popp said. "Anytime we can put a major renovation like this into the facility that's going to offer a world-class amenity in the way that they have redone the artwork and the facilities themselves, that's always going to be a positive because passenger numbers are very, very important to us and airports are a first impression."

LET THERE BE LIGHT

According to airport officials, the remodel -- designed by RIM Architects and implemented by PCL Construction Services -- was undertaken to get the aging South Terminal up to earthquake codes and improve security. That it represents a dramatic aesthetic improvement, however, has not gone unnoticed.

"It was a very dark and dreary place," Parrott said of Concourse B. "It was very cave-like. And so one of the things we did was we raised the ceiling quite a bit and we got the windows up above so we get the light coming through, and it truly is a difference of night and day."

The entire second floor of Concourse B -- where the passenger gates are -- was demolished and rebuilt, he said. Its floors are now tiled with shiny red, black and gray granite, with pillars of polished steel extending to the vaulted ceiling.

Flat-screen TVs dangle from the ceiling near gates, and two sets of redone bathrooms are equipped with "all the bells and whistles," Parrott said. Sunlight shines through two rows of south-facing windows, including a series along the raised ceiling in the concourse.

Concourse B has fewer gates than before -- there were 11 but only nine now -- because the airport needed to accommodate larger airplanes being flown these days, Parrott said. But travelers can now find more to eat and do, with a short walk toward Concourse C.

Airport officials say shifting the security screening area to the left of its current location will reduce congestion atop the escalators by separating departing passengers waiting to get through security from those arriving and meeting friends and relatives.

The shift will also free up space for new restaurants and waiting areas in the locations now occupied by Transportation Security Administration screeners and their devices. Plans call for a restaurant to replace the left checkpoint and either a restaurant or a waiting area to take up the one to the right, Parrott said.

Which restaurants has yet to be decided, but airport officials are hoping to make one of them accessible to people on both sides of security, possibly by using a one-way lazy Susan that would allow food out to the unsecured area but nothing to get back in, Parrott said.

The new layout will expand on the strip of stores stretching along the base of Concourse C, where Chili's Too is now, with retailers including a McDonald's that opened last week, and others still to be announced.

The new and improved airport boasts four new artworks for 1 Percent for Art, including a series of glass panels fixed together to resemble flowing water with salmon swimming, a birch tree canopy tiled on the ceiling and a series of human-sized geese in flight hanging from the ceiling in Concourse B.

Concourse A got a less substantive face lift because it is newer and did not require as much work, according to airport officials. Improvements to it included an upgraded air filtration system, more efficient lighting and improvements to fire protection and other support systems. It also got new carpet and ceilings and remodeled bathrooms.

Another recent improvement to the airport is a connection for foot traffic between the north and south terminals. Completed this summer, the walkway allows travelers to hoof it from one terminal to the other -- outside the secured areas -- without going outdoors.

AN AIRPORT MILESTONE

The airport makeover -- give or take -- began as a "gleam in the eye" back in 1995, said Mort Plumb, the former airport director who was on the job during most of the project.

"It's good for the people of Anchorage, it's good for the state of Alaska. They now have a first-class facility and basically everything we planned back in 1996, and approved by the airlines in 1997, is now built," Plumb said. "There's been a lot of speed bumps along the way, but I think the people of Alaska are the beneficiaries."

Christine Klein, deputy commissioner for the state Department of Transportation, said the overall program, Gateway Alaska, got under way in 1998 and included the renovations to the terminals as well as changing the roads leading to the airport, relocating the tank farm, reconstructing the upper ramp at the South Terminal and rebuilding some of the refueling and ramp locations around the terminals.

"It's very exciting for us to actually finish," Klein said. "It is absolutely the culmination of many years' effort that is finally complete. It is very much a milestone in our airport's history."

The teardown and reconstruction of Concourse C, completed in 2004, took five years and was beset by cost overruns and delays. In contrast, the remodeling of A and B concourses was completed on time and under budget, according to DOT. The overhaul was budgeted in October 2007 for $207 million and is expected to come in under $200 million, DOT spokesman Roger Wetherell said.

How much has the whole 11-year renovation cost? Wetherell, Klein and other state transportation officials were unable to pin down a number last week. The A, B and C concourses by themselves cost $500 million. On top of that were the roads, runways, apron, fuel tanks, air cargo hangars and other multimillion-dollar projects that also took place in the past decade. None of the officials could tally it all up last week.

Though owned by the state, the airport is self-funded, Klein said. The construction is being paid for by airport tenants -- airlines and vendors. These businesses get their revenue from customers who fly, ship cargo, shop and eat in the airport.

"In terms of the greater scheme of air fares, this is a fairly minor part of the overall landing fee structure and the lease structure, so I don't see where it would be an influence that most passengers would even notice," Popp said. "And there are expectations at airports for quality amenities. ... They're looking for an airport that is comfortable to be in while they are stuck there waiting to get on their flight."

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Where’s my flight?

Some airlines will shift locations at the airport this month. Here’s the lineup after all moves are completed by mid-month.

North Terminal

Eva

China

Condor

Japan Air

Korean Air

Sun Country

South Terminal

Concourse A

Era

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Flying Service

Grant Aviation

Hageland

PenAir

Concourse B

Shared Services Aviation (Conoco Phillips and BP) *

American *

Continental **

Delta **

US Airways **

Other seasonal flights

Concourse C

Alaska Airlines

Air Canada

Northwest

* Moving from Concourse C

** Moving from North Terminal

12 years of airport improvements*

• $200 million — Concourses A and B

• $301.3 million — Concourse C

• $26.3 million — Building the ramp and rerouting roads for Concourse C

• $36.2 million — Miscellaneous improvements to South Terminal

• $31.3 million — Others airside improvements to aprons and runways

* List is not exhaustive. It excludes air-cargo hangars, the walkway connecting the North and South terminals, and other projects.

Source: DOT

The project by the numbers

• 7 million — Pounds of concrete demolished.

• 900,000 — Pounds of metal demolished.

• 1.9 million — Pounds of structural steel installed.

• 3,000 — Cubic yards of concrete placed.

• 10 miles — Combined length of piping installed.

• 5 miles — Combined length of conduit installed.

• Half mile — Combined length of baggage conveyors installed.

Source: DOT

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