Trump Dulles renovation plan targets people movers and parking headaches

President Trump has been hands-on with a $22.5 billion Trump Dulles renovation plan, reviewing large 3D models at the White House and weighing in on airport buses, parking, baggage systems, trains and the overall look, multiple sources told CBS News.

CBS News reported that Trump is expected to publicly present the proposal this week. A Wednesday Oval Office announcement with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was planned, though two sources told the outlet the timing could change.

The president has publicly called Washington Dulles International Airport a “terrible airport” and said it “was incorrectly designed.” Privately, sources told CBS News, he has complained about far-off parking and the airport’s mobile lounge system.

What is in the Trump Dulles renovation plan?

The Trump-backed concept would keep the airport’s well-known sloped-roof main terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen, while reworking the inside with a more open foyer and new airline ticket kiosks, one source told CBS News.

The plan would end the use of Dulles’ mobile lounges, the passenger vehicles also known as people movers that have been part of the airport since 1962. In their place, a new U-shaped underground aerotrain would carry travelers to terminals, with more moving sidewalks also planned.

The current aerotrain serves the A, B and C concourses, but it does not reach the D concourse used by United Airlines gates, CBS News reported. The overhaul also calls for four new linear concourses where the A, B, C and D gates now stand.

The C and D gates were built in 1985 as temporary facilities for United Airlines and have remained in use for more than 40 years, according to CBS News. The proposal would also bring parking closer to the main terminal.

How did Trump pick the Dulles design?

In recent months, Trump held design sessions in the Oval Office with executives from development and finance companies and called advisers with suggestions, sources familiar with the discussions told CBS News.

About 30 proposals were submitted, including entries from HNTB, STV Group, Jacobs, Ferrovial and AECOM, according to CBS News. AECOM is also working on Trump’s White House ballroom project.

Ferrovial, which recently developed the new Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, suggested a new main terminal with a wavy roof, CBS News reported. Trump rejected that idea, according to the outlet.

Jacobs proposed a bridge high enough for planes to pass underneath, allowing passengers to move between terminals, but Trump disliked the bridge design, CBS News reported. HNTB offered a more sweeping concept that amounted to a new airport with an additional main terminal elsewhere on the property, but Trump thought rebuilding while keeping air traffic running would be unwieldy, one source told CBS News.

BlackRock offered to finance and complete the renovation and also proposed operating Dulles, taking control from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and collecting airport revenue, sources familiar with the bid told CBS News. That proposal ran into multiple complications, and United Airlines opposed the takeover, according to the report.

Trump ultimately backed a plan that uses existing infrastructure and works with United, CBS News reported. United CEO Scott Kirby met with Trump about the project, sources told the outlet.

Under the concept, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority would finance the work through its power to issue tax-free bonds. United would contract for the construction and repay the bond financing through airport operations, according to CBS News.

The existing runways would stay as they are under the United proposal, which one source told CBS News was one reason Trump supported it. Separate requests for proposals are expected for public-private partnerships covering land-side projects, including a proposed convention center and new parking lots.

This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.