Demolition on the terminal B facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks began on Tuesday, as airport officials opened a 63-year-old time capsule that had resided behind the terminal’s cornerstone.
The capsule included copies of the laws and regulations governing aeronautics in 1951, pictures of the terminal construction, newspaper articles on Bradley, and official records from surrounding municipalities. The items will be displayed at Bradley’s terminal A.
The $15 million demolition of the terminal is expected to be complete by the end of 2015. The Connecticut Airport Authority will begin work on a $10 million road realignment in the fall to allow for a new ground transportation center. That center is host rental car facilities, 900 parking spaces, a transit center with bus docks for service to the Windsor Locks Train Station, and potential light rail connectivity. The center is scheduled for completion in 2018.
Terminal B was completed and opened in 1952, after the state legislature provided $2 million in bonding for its construction. It was the oldest operating terminal in the United States before it closed to airline operations in 2010. It was also known as the Murphy Terminal, named after Francis S. Murphy, former editor and publisher of the Hartford Times and chair of the Connecticut Aeronautics Commission.
