The 2000 Portland International Airport (PDX) Master Plan is unlike previous master plans for the airport, offering an innovative approach to commercial service airport master planning. As evidence of this innovative thinking, the 2000 PDX Master Plan was awarded a "Professional Achievement in Planning Award" in 2000 by the Oregon American Planning Association for its citizen involvement process and the unique concepts it proposed for dealing with airport planning issues.
As originally conceived, the 2000 Master Plan was to be a facility plan than would include forecasts for growth in passengers, cargo and operations followed by an analysis of alternative facility development scenarios to meet the projected growth. This is the traditional format for commercial airport master plans.
As development of the plan evolved, it became clear that more than a traditional facility plan was desired. As a result of the citizen involvement process, airport-planning staff at the Port of Portland decided that the 2000 PDX Master Plan should be different. It evolved into a more timely and progressive planning effort, taking its lead from the planning environment in which it is based -- Portland and Oregon. While it still contains a traditional "facility planning" component that outlines how the airport may be developed to meet demand, it also contains sections devoted to the following areas: