McCarran International Airport Terminal 1 Baggage

McCarran International Airport is the main commercial airport serving Las Vegas, Nevada. With over 42 million passengers per year it is ranked 8th in the world for takeoffs and landings. That number is expected to reach the airport’s maximum capacity of over 53 million passengers within 10 years.

By 2012, McCarran’s original terminal, Terminal 1, was in need of baggage recapitalization according to the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) guidelines. TSA places strict limits for baggage handling equipment and these restrict the length and number of down time occurrences as well as the age of equipment. Any system which does not pass the TSA checks is scheduled for replacement. The equipment at Terminal 1 had been in operation for over 10 years. Replacement was inevitable.

Walter P Moore provided structural engineering for the replacement effort. Terminal 1, the oldest of the Terminals in operation at McCarran, was constructed in the 1970’s. It has a base concourse enhanced by numerous expansions and additions. To complicate matters it is by far the busiest terminal and could not be taken out of operation. Since no two baggage systems are alike, installation of the new systems required multiple modifications to the existing building structures and support systems. The design phase took almost a year to complete. Construction for the recapitalization is planned take place in the operational airport with no impact to passenger service.