Sky Harbor Airport - could T3 and T4 be renamed "West" and "East" after T2 closes? (Scottsdale: house, construction)

[Pink Jazz]

Currently, at Sky Harbor, we have three terminals - 2, 3, and 4. Terminal 1 was demolished in 1991 after Terminal 4 opened, with one of its remnants being its parking lot which is now the West Economy Park & Walk.

However, the terminals did not always have number designations. Originally when it was just T1, it was simply known as the "Terminal". When T2 opened, it was originally called the East Terminal while T1 was renamed the West Terminal. The number designations did not appear until T3 opened.

When T2 closes, we will be back to only two terminals - T3 and T4. Does anyone think they could consider reviving the old "West Terminal" and "East Terminal" names to refer to T3 and T4, respectively? I think it would make lot of sense, actually. Having only a T3 and T4 seems even more out of place than simply lacking a T1.

What does anyone here think?

[cjseliga]

That's fine to rename them, but down the road after the 8th concourse is added to T4 and T3 is done with their renovation, what if they decide to expand (since T4 and T3 would be totally built out) and build a new terminal where T2 was? I realize this could be 20 years from now, then what do you do?

Call the new T2, West Terminal, West Terminal would become Central Terminal and East Terminal would stay the same?

East/West could work if and when they decide to expand and just add concourses to the newly renovated T3 (which would be West Terminal in your scenario), but for that to happen I would redo the roadway (E. Sky Harbor Blvd.) where it makes that hard bend on the west side of T3. Once T2 is demolished, I would get rid of the bend in the road and get rid of the parking garage north of T2 and continue making the road straight like it is east of there until Copperhead Dr. Then you can keep on expanding T3/West Terminal north and south of the newly straighten road going toward the west.

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by cjseliga

That's fine to rename them, but down the road after the 8th concourse is added to T4 and T3 is done with their renovation, what if they decide to expand (since T4 and T3 would be totally built out) and build a new terminal where T2 was? I realize this could be 20 years from now, then what do you do?

Call the new T2, West Terminal, West Terminal would become Central Terminal and East Terminal would stay the same?

East/West could work if and when they decide to expand and just add concourses to the newly renovated T3 (which would be West Terminal in your scenario), but for that to happen I would redo the roadway (E. Sky Harbor Blvd.) where it makes that hard bend on the west side of T3. Once T2 is demolished, I would get rid of the bend in the road and get rid of the parking garage north of T2 and continue making the road straight like it is east of there until Copperhead Dr. Then you can keep on expanding T3/West Terminal north and south of the newly straighten road going toward the west.

Note that there were once plans to demolish both T2 and T3 and replace them with one large megaterminal that would have rivaled T4 in size. Due to the downturn in the economy those plans have been shelved indefinitely in favor of expanding T3 instead.

I think that any future expansion can easily be accomplished by expanding T3 and redoing the roadway once T2 is demolished. No need for a separate terminal building.

[Ztonyg]

I think there's a good chance that T3 becomes the "West" terminal and T4 becomes the "East" terminal.

What is already known is that once the renovations / expansion of T3 is complete, the current T3N concourse will be renamed the "F" gates and the new T3S concourse will be known as the "E" gates. In this way, all of the gates at the airport will have a letter - number combo. T4 will house all of the A, B, C, and D gates and T3 will house the E and F gates.

There's really no practical way of allowing access to the post security "sterile" side of the airport among all of the gates due to the fact that there are 2 taxiways that separate T3 and T4.

[ScottsdaleMark]

I like Terminal 2, it's smaller/easier/quicker to deal with than T3 and T4...but it has little in the way of amenities, food, etc., so I understand why the airlines and the airport want to get rid of it and expand the more modern terminals.

The naming has been odd for a long time, why do you have Terminals 2-4 but no Terminal 1? So I'd say it's due for a rename and all new signage once the renovations are complete. The problem with naming them East and West is there's a fairly large segment of the population that has problems with cardinal directions and don't often know which way is east/west without stopping to think about it, so I wonder if they wouldn't just skip the cardinal names and go with something else.

[Bungle]

Leave it as is. Millions of people are familiar with the naming. Who cares if there's no terminal 1 and the numbering is no longer perfectly sequential.

Why not name them Pink Terminal and Fuschia Terminal?!

[43north87west]

Terminal 2, 3, 4 are just names and almost everyone is familiar. Why does the presence of a number presume that the numbers have to be in series, or that the series has to begin or end with certain numbers? Do they even need any renaming?

If they're going to be renamed, why not just rename them with something that doesn't involve any spatial or numerical references, or any potentially irritating names like the Arpaio terminal, so that the chance of rehashing the same discussion is diminished next time something changes (or a snowflake gets offended). Name one Camelback and the other Sunshine or whatever. Then if another terminal or something comes along, call it the Cactus terminal.

[Zathras]

Originally Posted by ScottsdaleMark

The problem with naming them East and West is there's a fairly large segment of the population that has problems with cardinal directions and don't often know which way is east/west without stopping to think about it,

But maybe that would help people learn which way is east and west!

Originally Posted by 43north87west

Terminal 2, 3, 4 are just names and almost everyone is familiar. Why does the presence of a number presume that the numbers have to be in series, or that the series has to begin or end with certain numbers? Do they even need any renaming?

If they're going to be renamed, why not just rename them with something that doesn't involve any spatial or numerical references, or any potentially irritating names like the Arpaio terminal, so that the chance of rehashing the same discussion is diminished next time something changes (or a snowflake gets offended). Name one Camelback and the other Sunshine or whatever. Then if another terminal or something comes along, call it the Cactus terminal.

This is what I'm thinking. Name em after desert critters or plants. "Coyote" "Javelina" "Saguaro" "Palo Verde".

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by ScottsdaleMark

I like Terminal 2, it's smaller/easier/quicker to deal with than T3 and T4...but it has little in the way of amenities, food, etc., so I understand why the airlines and the airport want to get rid of it and expand the more modern terminals.

The naming has been odd for a long time, why do you have Terminals 2-4 but no Terminal 1? So I'd say it's due for a rename and all new signage once the renovations are complete. The problem with naming them East and West is there's a fairly large segment of the population that has problems with cardinal directions and don't often know which way is east/west without stopping to think about it, so I wonder if they wouldn't just skip the cardinal names and go with something else.

Well, the "West" and "East" names were used back when it was just T1 and T2, respectively. The numbers didn't appear until T3 opened. If people didn't have problems with cardinal directions back then, would they today?

[azdr0710]

plans can change and there's always a chance a third, separate, terminal will still be built on the site of T1 and T2.....so "east" and "west" should not be used......straightening out that curve just west of T3 would be nice and I know the planners know it......

for those curious, here's a picture of the old T1 and T2 before construction of T3...you can also see the remnants of the old crosswind runway at extreme center left (used before T2 was built in 1962)