Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Over 800 takeoffs and landings per day make its main runway the busiest in the nation.
Washington National Airport was built after a long and bitter controversy. The first legislation for it was introduced in 1927, and it was reintroduced every year for eleven years before it was approved.
In the meantime, a smaller, privately owned Hoover Airport (see separate story) was in operation not far away, as well as another airport, Washington Airport, right next door to the first one. Both small and inadequate, the two airports were combined in 1930 to form a single Washington-Hoover Airport.
But problems persisted. Washington-Hoover Airport had a single runway intersected in the middle by a busy highway known as Military Road. When planes landed or took off, guards stationed at the intersection of the runway and the road had to stop vehicles by dragging a chain across the road. This disrupted both air and ground traffic. Numerous obstacles were around, such as factory smokestacks and tall utility poles. A nearby industrial dump billowed smoke and even flames. Also, the terminal building was too small.
After 12 years of congressional wrangling over the location of a new, larger, and safer airport, President Roosevelt told a press conference in 1938 that he was tired of waiting and personally selected the marshland along the Potomac called Gravelly Point. Construction began two months later, on November 21, 1938.
Since most of the designated area was underwater or river mudflats, nearly 20 million cubic yards of sand and gravel had to be deposited before the runways could be built.
President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the terminal building two years after the site was selected.
Washington National Airport finally opened for business on June 16, 1941. In 1998, the airport's name was changed from Washington National to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in honor of the 40th President of the United States.
In 1997, a new terminal and a new control tower were added.
Today, the airport's main runway averages more than 800 takeoffs and landings daily, making it the busiest runway in the nation.
Its location, so close to Washington DC, offers stunning views of the capital's attractions to passengers sitting on both sides of the planes while landing or taking off.
Images
