Terminal Tour Turns Up Gags, Costly Wonders

An electronic flight status board at John Wayne Airport’s new Thomas F. Riley Terminal on Tuesday listed a Continental Airlines flight to Bismarck, N.D.--an example of airport workers’ humor, since there are no such flights from Orange County.

It was also part of the last-minute tests and preparations being conducted for the Sept. 16 opening of the cavernous, $62-million terminal.

Elsewhere Tuesday, crews installed restaurant equipment at a McDonald’s while several women strolled off to see the self-flushing urinals. Architect Leason Pomeroy, leading reporters on a tour, also praised the terminal’s arrival area as a “celebration of baggage.”

Although nearly finished, crews were still much in evidence Tuesday, and the racket from a painter’s air compressor drowned out Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, for whom the terminal is named. Riley led the unveiling of the refurbished and colorized John Wayne statue in the building’s main lobby.

“I knew John Wayne personally,” he said. “I’m sure if he was here, he’d be pleased with all of us.”

Chris Elliott, project manager for embattled airport contractor Taylor Woodrow California Construction Ltd., stood by quietly.

“This is a great building,” he said. “I’ve never been involved in a project like this, where we’ve had so little to do in the final weeks. We’ve been done for a month.”

Still, referring to negative publicity surrounding the project, which is being completed more than five months late and millions of dollars over budget, Elliott said: “No big project such as this is ever what you want it to be, but we never think of it that way, really. We just try to build it and get the job done.”

The 337,900-square-foot terminal was bristling with electronic signs, airline and concession logos and artwork that provide the only color relief against the building’s beige-and-gray environment.

The gift shop, already full of merchandise, had previously dressed mannequins in sports clothes featuring the Los Angeles Raiders and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but at the airport’s insistence they will be dressed in gear from the Rams and the California Angels.

The tour continued with architect Pomeroy explaining that the structure is so long that it had to be built as several units divided by expansion joints. At a half-mile long, Pomeroy said, the building could lengthen by several feet on a hot day.

Also, the interior lights enclosed in wall-mounted sconces are controlled by computer to maintain the same effects day and night.

As Pomeroy spoke, “Now Boarding” messages were displayed electronically above each airline gate.

One status board had previously listed a flight as “lost”--another example of airport humor.

The new, 14-gate terminal is built to serve up to 8.4 million passengers annually; the four-gate Edward J. (Eddie) Martin Terminal, which will be turned over to small plane and corporate jet owners, handled up to 4.75 million passengers a year.

How much did the expansion cost? Change orders recently pushed the price tag over $62 million. Back in 1987, county officials expected it to run about $42.5 million.

A final accounting is still months away.

Asked to give a ballpark figure for what the final cost will be, Taylor Woodrow’s Elliott said: “Of course I have a fairly good idea, but I’m not going to share it with you today. . . . I’m not that crazy.”

The media tour started a week of opening festivities, including an art exhibition tonight, a black-tie reception Friday night and an open house Saturday.