Airport Check-in: Washington, D.C., gears up for inauguration
— -- Transportation officials in the Washington, D.C., area are making changes to accommodate massive crowds expected to arrive and depart this week at area airports for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday.
Passengers can expect road closings, ground transportation schedule changes and airport shops operating longer hours.
•On Tuesday, motorists will only be able to drive to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport via Route 1 in Virginia. Route 66 going eastbound from Dulles International toward Washington will be closed, except for taxis, SuperShuttles, Washington Flyer Coach Service and buses.
•Metro will operate additional buses through Wednesday on the B30 Route, which runs from the Greenbelt Metro station in Maryland to Baltimore/Washington Marshall Airport. It will also run more buses for the 5A Route, which connects the Rosslyn Metro station in Arlington, Va., to Dulles International. The 5A and B30 buses will run every 15 to 20 minutes, instead of every 30 minutes, through Wednesday.
•At Reagan National, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Cinnabon, Starbucks, T.G.I. Friday's and Legal Sea Foods are some of the restaurants that will operate extended hours or stay open 24 hours. At Dulles, Famous Famiglia, Tequileria, Max & Erma's, Wendy's and others will extend their hours.
Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Washington Dulles and Reagan National airports, says the busiest day will be Wednesday after the inauguration. We "would advise passengers to treat it as a peak travel day," she says.
Atlanta's MLK art exhibit
Check out Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson's permanent exhibit — "Legacy of a Dream" — that commemorates the work and life of Martin Luther King Jr. Located at Concourse E, the exhibit includes rare family photos; the official permit from King's March on Washington; the suit he wore to his meeting with President Lyndon Johnson; his wristwatch and glasses; and a photo of President Reagan with Coretta Scott King declaring MLK day as a national holiday.
Seattle-Tacoma: Plans for greener gates
Seattle-Tacoma International plans to install a pre-conditioned air system at its gates, which would pump in cool or heated air to idling planes. It will allow planes to shut down auxiliary power, saving money on fuel and reducing CO{-2} gas emissions.
"This investment lowers airline costs and reduces the airport's environmental footprint," says Port of Seattle Commission President Bill Bryant, in a statement.
The airport estimates the system will reduce emissions by more than 69,000 metric tons per year and save airlines about $400,000 in fuel costs in the first year. The airport hopes to complete the project, which is estimated to cost about $33 million, by the end of 2012.
Heathrow: Third runway gets OK
The British government has approved construction of a third runway at London's Heathrow, a crucial step in a project that aims to increase capacity at the massively crowded airport.
The new runway, which could expand Heathrow's capacity to 600,000 flights a year from 480,000, would allow the airport to compete more effectively with other major European hubs that have more than three runways, such as Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris de Gaulle. But the project faces stiff opposition from environmental activists who claim an additional runway would increase carbon emissions and violate European Union pollution and noise standards. The government plans to complete the runway between 2015 and 2020.
The third runway "will be an enormous economic catalyst by better connecting the London and U.K. economies to global business," says International Air Transport Association CEO Giovanni Bisignani in a statement.