Next Stage for Terminal A Roadwork Starts Tomorrow, July 8
Beginning Tuesday morning, we move into the next phase of our major summer road construction in front of Terminal A. Over the next six weeks or so, to mid-August, this work will mean some temporary inconvenience for passengers using Terminal A. For illustrations and maps showing the road construction plan and timetable, go to www.sjc.org.

This is the trickiest period of the Terminal A road construction for our passengers. Please allow yourself extra time for traffic and getting to the terminal – a good rule of thumb is to arrive at least 90 minutes before your flight. Follow signs and parking and traffic officers' instructions. Don’t make any sudden moves – and please watch out for other drivers, pedestrians, and construction workers.

Thanks for your patience during what we expect to be the most difficult period of construction for our customers.

Here's a summary of what's happening now in front of Terminal A:

All traffic lanes and the drop-off curb on the Departures side, right in front of Terminal A, will be closed until mid-August. All traffic will be shifted to the lanes on the Arrivals side of Terminal A.

Curbside check-in for American, Southwest, Mexicana, and Hawaiian airlines all will remain in place at the center of Terminal A.

New drop-off spots:

For six weeks or so, the Departures curb will be relocated at the front of the International Arrivals Building, just after you pass by Terminal A. There will be a security checkpoint inside this building open from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. If you already have your boarding pass and don’t have any bags to check, you can enter the terminal right there.

Other travelers dropped off at the International Arrivals curbside will need to walk back to Terminal A to check their bags and enter the building. Airport Ambassadors will be on hand to provide assistance, and free luggage carts and wheelchairs will be available for passengers.

During this stage of roadwork, passengers also can be dropped off inside the Terminal A garage, and a 20-minute grace period will be in effect. You may enter the garage to drop off your travelers, but don’t linger. You must exit before your 20 minutes is up, or you’ll be charged for your entire time in the garage (at least $2 for the first 20 minutes and part of the second 20 minutes).

Shuttle bus stop relocated:

The airport blue shuttle buses for the parking lots and rental car center, which normally stop at the north end of the Departures side, are moving to the Terminal A Ground Transportation Center on the Arrivals side, south of the parking garage. This will require a short walk back to the terminal, but a free courtesy cart will be available for those who would like a lift.

Temporary bypass detour makes it easier to get to Terminal C:

To help relieve traffic at Terminal A during the summer, we’ve opened a temporary detour that will let drivers heading to Terminal C to bypass Terminal A and shorten the loop. Although we expect the detour bypass will be popular with drivers, we’ll have to close it in October to allow the rest of our construction on the roads and the garage to continue. The good news is that when the roadwork is completed in late 2010, we’ll have a new, permanent bypass road opened that will let you go directly to the new Terminal B and rental car garage.

Good advice:

Summer is our busiest travel season, and over the next few months we will be moving roadway lanes and pedestrian access to the terminal several times. Please be alert to changing road conditions at the airport. And again, allow yourself extra time to deal with unexpected traffic and for getting to the terminal. A good rule of thumb this summer is to arrive at least 90 minutes before your flight.

Finally...

Demolition of the existing roadway in front of Terminal A will occur during the night this week, Tuesday through Thursday, July 8 - 10. This will involve some noisy jack hammering, but the work will be done after 10:00p.m. when most of our passenger traffic is over for the night.

We’re working closely with airlines at Terminal A to reduce construction impacts and communicate changes to customers as much as we can. To help speed the completion of the work and to minimize impacts on the public, construction crews will be working 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Pile Driving for New Garage Completed, Ahead of Schedule
The new rental car garage achieved a major milestone on June 18: construction crews drove the final pile for the project for a total of 2,277 foundation piles since March, finishing about two weeks ahead of schedule. This is a great relief for everyone working and traveling at the airport, and it marks the completion of the noisiest phase of our construction for the New Airport.

With all the piles in place, we’re now completing pouring concrete for foundations, and we’ve started placing columns and sheer walls for the structure. Parking decks will start going up in a few months for the new seven-level garage, which will provide convenient parking for our rental car customers and for the public, right across the road from the new Terminal B when the garage opens late 2010.

There’s still a bit more pile driving to be done for the South Loop Overcrossing, next to Airport Boulevard just south of Terminal C, but we expect that to be completed by the end of this week.

Pedestrian Access to the Airport Closed at Skyport Blvd. and Airport Parkway
Because of road construction, we’ve had to close pedestrian access to the Airport at both Skyport Blvd. and Airport Parkway. With the amount of construction traffic and the major work on the roads themselves, there isn’t any practical way for pedestrians to walk to the terminals during this period of major changes. When construction is done and the new roadway is completed in late 2010, there will be crosswalks that will offer better pedestrian access.

Passengers and employees on foot still have the option of using the free VTA Line 10 bus, the “Airport Flyer,” that stops at locations near the Metro light rail station on North First Street, Technology Drive, and Airport Parkway just prior to entry to the Airport, as well as from the Santa Clara Caltrain station. The Airport Flyer route and information can be found at VTA Airport Flyer Line 10.

Airport Construction "Hot Line" - (408) 501-0630
For current information about construction impacts to the airport, call (408) 501-0630. We will update the recorded message to help our passengers as we make changes affecting roads, terminals, and parking at SJC over the next two years.

Construction Schedules Are Subject to Change
Because the $1.3 billion project to replace and upgrade the SJC terminal area is complex and moving very fast, our construction schedules are subject to continuing revision. We will keep updating the public and our customers about the project details as they occur, but please bear with us as we adjust schedules for the project over the next two years. We appreciate your patience, and thank you for flying San José while we build The New Airport for you.