Lindbergh Field's Terminal 1, opened in 1967, is headed for the dustbin of airport history.

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority hopes to select a plan this fall that would replace the 18-gate terminal with a 28-gate facility, build new parking garages and reconfigure the airplane parking and maintenance operations. The goal is extend 661-acre San Diego International Airport's life one last time to 2040.

"This master plan essentially takes us to the capacity of the runway," said planning director Keith Wilschetz.

At that point, aircraft operations would max out at 257,000, up 64,000 from today's level, and the passenger count would reach 14.5 million, up from today's 9.2 million.

"The airport won't continue to grow," he told a public workshop Tuesday.

Terminal 1 has reached its useful life, Wilschetz said, and cannot be easily rehabbed to meet current requirements and patron preferences. Built the same year as Qualcomm Stadium, it was not designed to handle today's tough security screening or modern aircraft. Traffic dropoffs conflict with pickups, the building offers limited shopping and dining options are limited, and travelers have to undergo another security check if they have to transfer to Terminal 2.

"It's just antiquated," Wilschetz said. "You really can't make those specific areas bigger without at some point saying it's time to raze the whole thing and start over again."

Staff and consultants have offered five plans so far with Alternative 5, estimated at $2.2 billion and reviewed by the airport board last month, the apparent favorite. The other four range from $2.1 billion to $2.6 billion. The 2013 Terminal 2 expansion, called "Green Build," cost $1 billion.

"I think we were very pleased to see that alternative that synthesizes the best aspects of the options that we preferred previously and was able to solve for a few more variants," said board chairman Robert Gleason.

Added board member county Supervisor Greg Cox, a board member, "It looks better than the other four."

The new terminal's first phase would be built east of the present building. Wilschetz told about 50 people attending a public workshop Tuesday evening that the modular design would permit phasing of later pieces once the old building is razed.

Other elements include adding more gates at the west end of Terminal 2; building two parking garages on the present parking lot facing Terminal 1 (a garage facing Terminal 2 is set for California Coastal Commission review in August); setting aside space east of the terminal for overnight plane parking; and building a new taxiway if the World War II-era runway is reconstructed.

Nicholas Reed, 28, of Clairemont, who described himself as an aviation enthusiast said he had preferred an earlier, more expensive plan that included some outdoor park space within the terminal. He said one concern is the 3,700-foot length of the Alternative 5 terminal design.

"I hear people complain about (no) moving sidewalks," he said, which officials said could be installed in both terminals, depending on funding.

With the plan's outline more or less in place, financing remains a stumbling block. The airport has committed much of its future revenue to paying off more than $600 million in bonds for the Terminal 2 project. They include user fees, set at the federal maximum of $4.50 per person; airline landing charges of $10.49 per person; parking revenue; airport concessions; and state and federal transportation grants.

"At this time, we do not yet know exactly how much will come from various funding sources," said Scott Brickner, the airport's vice president of finance.

Paul Grimes, in his 60s and a Point Loma resident, said he questioned the budget.

"Who knows what they'll eventually spend on it," he said.

The staff has yet to set out a schedule for implementation of whatever plan is eventually approved.

Chairman Gleason said it would be difficult to break ground on the terminal before 2020.

"Everything would have to line up for us to keep moving forward with the plan," he said.

But he said public reaction to Terminal 2's expansion assured him that moving forward with Terminal 1 would be welcomed.

"The comment I heard most when Green Build opened was not 'Wow, this is terrific,' but 'When are you going to get to Terminal 1?'" Gleason said. "I took that as a great success. People accepted the new terminal. They were pleased to see a modern terminal in all possible ways and realize, in essence, that we are operating two different airports."

Even as planning proceeds on Terminal 1, the airport is completing construction on a car rental center on Pacific Highway, due to open in January, and begun construction on a new roadway within the airport property for shuttle buses.

A new lane on Harbor Drive also is under way to make room for the buses, which will replace the many individual buses operated by rental car companies.

Next year, the San Diego Association of Governments plans to complete an upgraded Middletown trolley station at Palm Street i mid-2016 to make it more convenient and pleasant for transit riders to walk one block to the new car rental building and catch a shuttle to the terminals.

SANDAG also has planned a $170 million intermodal transit center south of Washington Street by 2035 where buses, trolleys, Coasters, Amtrak and a bullet train would meet. A bridge over Pacific Highway would link the center to the rental car building. But funding is not yet set for that project.

1927: Voters approve $650,000 to build airport; dedicated Aug. 16, 1928; passenger terminal on Pacific Highway completed in 1931.

1931: Runway, 1,200 feet long and 200 feet wide paved.

1934: Designated a permanent international airport by U.S. Treasury Department.

1935: Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair and General Dynamics) lease land on Pacific Highway for airplane factory.,

1942: U.S. Army Air Corps takes control of Lindbergh for war purposes; runway lengthened to 8,750 feet.

1946: First post-war year sees 26 daily scheduled flights by United, Western and American; $500,000 airport administration building authorized to replace original terminal; dedicated 1952.

1958: Terminal serves nearly 700,000 passengers out of 70,000-square foot building and 12 airline gate positions.

1960: Harbor Commission appoints noise abatement committee resulting in nighttime curfew in 1974.

1962: San Diego Unified Port District takes over airport control under state port act.

1967: Terminal 1, costing $5.4 million, opened on Harbor Drive with 20 passenger boarding positions, parking for 1,400 vehicles.

1972: Terrorist attack at Munich Olympics prompt tighter security at airports.

1975: Terminal 2 built, expanded in 1998; Terminal 1 expanded in 1979.

1978: PSA plane collision with a Cessna 172 on approach to Lindbergh lead to stricter airspace requirements.

2001: World Trade Center, Pentagon terrorist attacks prompt tighter security requirements; Lindbergh becomes one of the first to comply.

2003: San Diego County Regional Airport Authority takes over control from port district.

2006: Voters turn down ballot measure to move Lindbergh to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

2008: Airport Authority adopts new master plan calling for expansion in place.

2015: Commuter Terminal closed; concepts presented to replace Terminal 1.

Source: "The Future Takes Wing," San Diego Country Regional Airport Authority.

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