Any Minnesotan will tell you that we have two seasons here in the North – winter and construction. This year, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's Terminal 1-Lindbergh is taking full advantage of the latter, starting with re-routing the terminal's outbound roadway.
The alignment of the outbound roadway will change to accommodate a luxury hotel and spa, and a new 5,000-space parking ramp. The hotel is expected to open in 2018 and the ramp in 2019. There's currently a deep excavation to the south of the outbound roadway where an underpass will connect drivers to the new parking exit plaza.
In June, construction barriers and tarps will be raised in front of the building as the airport begins transforming the Ticketing and Baggage Claim areas – which still look much as they did when the terminal opened in 1962 – into modern, more efficient spaces. As a part of this project, the front walls of the terminal will be moved east, closer to the roadway. This will provide more space for check-in and security queues as well as for larger bag carousels that can accommodate the increased number of bags per flight typical of today's air-travel experience.
During the roadway construction, lanes into and out of Terminal 1 may shift or close, and familiar routes to check-in counters and baggage carousels will change. Signs will be posted help travelers and employees navigate the changes until construction is complete.
