Domestic terminal bridge opened

It’s meant to make walk safer from parking decks to terminal.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has opened the first pedestrian bridge between the domestic terminal and a parking deck.

It’s one of four pedestrian bridges planned to make it safer for travelers to walk from parking decks to the terminal and to reduce traffic congestion due to pedestrian crossings on the airport roadways.

The $55 million bridges and accompanying escalators and elevators got Atlanta City Council approval for funding in 2018.

The bridge connects the upper level of the Terminal North parking deck with a new upper balcony in the domestic terminal. It sits above the roadway and beneath the huge Terminal North canopy.

However, cosmetic work and installation of signs directing people to the bridge have not yet been completed, so most of those who have started using it so far are airport workers.

Metal paneling on the underside of the bridge and way-finding signs are expected to be complete by the end of August.

Those who park in the Terminal North deck can take a stairway or elevator to the upper level of the parking deck, then after crossing over to the terminal, take escalators down to the main level of the domestic terminal, where check-in counters, security checkpoints and baggage claim are located.

The second pedestrian bridge under construction will connect the Terminal South parking deck to the domestic terminal. It’s expected to be finished by Labor Day of this year, according to Hartsfield-Jackson.

The Atlanta airport’s plans are for two pedestrian bridges at Terminal South and two at Terminal North. The remaining two bridges are expected to be completed by Memorial Day 2021.

The bridges were originally expected to be finished in 2018 and 2019, but their completion was delayed.

The money for the project comes from airport funds, revenue from the $4.50 passenger facility charge travelers pay for each flight and bond financing.

The airport’s international terminal, which opened in 2012 on the east side of the airport, already has a covered pedestrian bridge between the parking deck and the terminal.