49 AirportImprovement.com July | August 2026 PASSENGER TRANSPORT SRQ Pletzer and Coppage credit collaboration between the airport, transit agencies, funding partners, and key contractors like Magnum Builders and USA Shade for helping effectively address challenges and optimize outcomes. Building in Future Flexibility Although the Ground Transportation Center was designed to solve current congestion, long-term flexibility drove many of the operational decisions about it. “You must design flexibility and scalability into a project like this,” Furr emphasizes. “You never know the future of transportation.” That philosophy shaped the size and placement of the staging area for ride share vehicles and the overall site layout, which features long curves for queueing vehicles. This will allow SRQ to easily reconfigure operational flows as transportation patterns and passenger growth continue to evolve, Furr explains. The project was also integrated directly into the airport’s long-range master plan. “The GTC [Ground Transportation Center] was strategically designed to provide capacity to help service us for the next 20 years,” he adds. The next phase of landside expansion is already being planned: a multimodal parking and rental car facility that will eventually create separate curbs for arrivals and departures. That facility is planned to begin construction in 2028. Landside Lessons Reflecting on the project, Furr and Newhouse both emphasize the importance of early planning and stakeholder engagement. “I’d definitely leverage predesign and preplanning efforts to make sure you’re pursuing exactly what you need,” Newhouse says. Pletzer echoes the importance of understanding operational needs before design begins. “There weren’t a lot of other airports we could compare this to,” he reflects. “That led us to develop something specifically for SRQ and how it operates.” In the end, the project represents much more than a less-congested curb. It’s an example of the increasingly important role landside operations plan in elevating the passenger experience, maximizing operational efficiency and planning strategic long-term growth. Elevating the future of airport design. meadhunt.com/aviation Redding Regional Airport, CA South Bend International Airport, IN Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport, WA Canopies provide guests with shade during the day and overhead lighting at night.
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