Sky Harbor Airport Roadway systerm

[longhorn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivREmUC3Zzo

At 2:50 into video notice the eastbound lane is on the "wrong side" of the road sort of speak heading to Terminals 3 & 4. Why did they design the road way this way?

[Max Rockatansky]

I always liked the whole racetrack configuration of Sky Harbor, it always flowed traffic really and had good signage that let you know where to be.  I used to pick people up from Sky Harbor all the time and I would actually usually just circle in the middle lane until they called me since the cell phone lot was kind of small.  There was pretty good access to the 202, 143, and I-10 depending on how you wanted to get out of there.  AZ 153 never made sense to me with the 143 being built to a much higher standard, weird to not see the signs now when I visit however.

[Zonie]

Since the terminals sit at the center of the divided roadway, it's safer to pull to the right to facilitate passenger pick ups and drop offs, as well as to enter and exit the parking structures.  Having traffic move the other direction forces a driver to re-enter traffic from the left.

Terminal 2 is a different configuration (the entrances are on the north side of the building), but that's going away by 2020.

The departure lanes at Denver International are in a similar configuration. 

[Sonic99]

Yeah, I've actually always really liked the layout for Sky Harbor. Once Terminal 2 goes away, do they have any plans for that space?

[Zonie]

Looks like they'll run the SkyTrain over part of it, based on this:

https://www.skyharbor.com/images/default-source/concept-illustrations/PHX-Sky-Train-Stage-2-Concept-Impages/sky-train-future.jpg?sfvrsn=0

[Pink Jazz]

Yeah, I've actually always really liked the layout for Sky Harbor. Once Terminal 2 goes away, do they have any plans for that space?

The concourse (the pier with the gates) of Terminal 2 will be demolished after the new South Concourse of Terminal 3 opens.  However, the central processor building will not be demolished until the Phoenix Aviation Department figures out a way to preserve the mural over the security checkpoint.

[longhorn]

Since the terminals sit at the center of the divided roadway, it's safer to pull to the right to facilitate passenger pick ups and drop offs, as well as to enter and exit the parking structures.  Having traffic move the other direction forces a driver to re-enter traffic from the left.

Terminal 2 is a different configuration (the entrances are on the north side of the building), but that's going away by 2020.

The departure lanes at Denver International are in a similar configuration. 

Not debating you but why is that? Exiting to the right.............Now that I think about it, we mostly exit to the right at airports. It must  be disorienting to the driver especially one sees they are driving on the wrong side of the road when seeing opposing traffic. Too me,just an interesting traffic setup.