Abigail Constantino | aconstantino@wtop.com

Passengers flying to Reagan National Airport will be welcomed by the new checkpoint buildings in Terminals B and C. Here is the information you need to know.

Starting on Tuesday, the typical process you are used to in the two terminals will be different.

"Basically, these new security checkpoints will let you zigzag through the airport until you reach the lobby that will now be behind security," NBC Washington Transportation Correspondent Adam Tus told WTOP.

The large hall known as the National Hall can only be accessed after security checks, but this change will allow passengers to move freely between doors 10 and 59.

So, if you want to eat something, such as Ben's Chili Bowl at the airport or Legal Sea Foods at the airport or Chick-fil-A at the airport, you must pass the security check before you can eat.

Tuss said that before the pandemic, the Reagan Nationalist Party ran out of space. The idea was to provide more space after security.

"The number of passengers they handle exceeds the millions they can really handle, more than the airport design has to handle. So they need to find a way to create more space. What they do is give these new The security checkpoints, their own area, were actually created out of thin air between the subway station and the existing terminal," Tuss said.

The improvement project is called Project Journey, and it is planned to be opened in time for the November-December holiday trip. It is expected that the holiday will be close to the pre-pandemic level.

How do you deal with this change?

If you get off at the top floor, you still need to walk in to collect your boarding pass and drop your luggage there. You will then follow a new set of escalators to the new security checkpoint. Tas said. After passing the security check, you will be able to "walk around the entire airport."

If you take the subway, as long as you don't have any luggage to get off, you can transfer directly from the station or parking lot without going upstairs to the top floor. But if you do, you need to go up and check your luggage and then come down.

"That will be the difference there, you will have to go back and then back again. So it will be a huge change," Tas said.

Tuss said that the Transportation Security Administration and the Reagan Nationalist Party hope that the process of passing the security check will be kept within 20 minutes, and as more lanes are opened, there will be more TSA lanes in the security checkpoint area.

According to Tass, a little-known fact: TSA is actually closed in the middle of the night, such as between midnight and 4 am

"That's why if you have ever had a 6am flight, there will always be such a long queue waiting to open the checkpoint line, and then you can pass. Now, because of this new security checkpoint space designated specifically for the TSA , They will be able to work around the clock, so you really shouldn’t encounter the queuing you’ve seen before, they should be able to get you through the next few days,” Tass said.

The checkpoint building replaced the three existing checkpoints in terminal B and C, and the number of safe passages was increased from 20 to 28.

Project Journey also included the creation of a hall to replace the infamous Gate 35X. That new hall opened in April.

TSA administrator David Pekoske said last month that capacity has increased by about 40%.

John Aaron of WTO contributed to this report.

Abigail Constantino began her journalistic career in a local newspaper in Fairfax County, Virginia. She graduated from American University and George Washington University.

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