A Los Angeles Times reporter describes the new Beijing airport: “It is two miles long, half a mile wide and expected to handle more passengers than any in the world. And it was built fast — in time for the Summer Olympics.”
…Beijing’s new international air terminal, which opened today in time for the Summer Olympics surge, attracts and embodies superlatives. It also embodies the new China, a country racing headlong into the future fueled by an economy on fire.
The airy glass-and-steel structure, even at two miles long and half a mile wide, raced from design to takeoff in four years. Most airport projects take a decade or more to complete and usually involve lengthy reviews, detailed assessments, planning committees, public hearings and environmental impact statements…
Elsewhere across China, skyscrapers sprout, highways unfurl and dams appear at breakneck speed, cutting through neighborhoods and displacing millions of people in the process. This terminal is among about $40 billion worth of projects being built in Beijing alone in advance of the Games, which start Aug. 8.
See also the Telegraph blog: Beijing’s amazing airport
Here is CCTV’s news on the Beijing No. 3 terminal via Youtube:
