Las Vegas airport to undergo major improvements including new terminal

Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, the fifth-busiest in the US, with a record 44.3 million passengers in 2005, is making major improvements. All are part of a $4 billion, 20-year master plan, including building a new terminal and concourse.

Among the projects that are included in McCarran's future are the construction of the fourth and final wing of the D-Gates Concourse, Terminal 3 and a C-Gates security checkpoint and pedestrian bridge. The projects also include the opening of the McCarran Rent-A-Car Center, the installation of an inline baggage screening system that uses technology of radio frequency identification and also remodeling the central baggage claim area.

The Construction of the last wing of the D-Gates concourse will begin this fall. The fourth and last wing of the concourse will add eight gates to the existing 36 gates and increase the airport's total number of gates to 104.

Another main building project for McCarran and its last major capital upgrade will be the construction of Terminal 3, due to begin in January and completed in spring 2011. It will have fourteen gates, eight for domestic traffic and six gates that can accommodate international flights. Terminal 3 will also include its own central plant, roadway, parking garage, ticketing counters and baggage claim area and will be connected to the D-Gates, a distance of about 900 feet, by an automated, underground tram.