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Portland International Airport officials are at work on a series of projects to modernize facilities and improve efficiency.

For one project, crews will extend concourse E by approximately 800 feet and construct six new gates. Known as the terminal balancing project, the $215 million concourse upgrade will create more room for the two largest carriers at PDX: Alaska Air Group and Southwest Airlines. Both carriers operate on the south side of the airport terminal building, and as a result, two-thirds of passengers at PDX use the south side of the terminal, airport officials and project architects say. 鈥淲hat is going on at PDX is the north half and south half of the existing terminal are out of balance as far as the number of passengers going to each side,鈥� said Michelle Vo, principal at Hennebery Eddy Architects Inc. and project manager for the design team. 鈥淭hat imbalance causes lots of problems, both in terms of what you would experience as a passenger and the infrastructure 鈥� what passengers don’t experience that goes on behind the scenes.鈥�

To remedy the imbalance, Southwest Airlines will move from concourse C to concourse E.

The project is being paid for largely by the airlines. Hennebery Eddy and Denver-based Fentress Architects are handling design, and Skanska USA is serving as the general contractor.

Design work on the project has already stretched for years. Hennebery Eddy began working on it in 2014. A move by Alaska Air Group, which includes Alaska Airlines and its subsidiaries Horizon Air and Virgin America, from turboprop planes to Embraer E175 jets for some flights required the design team to scramble.

The terminal expansion had to be redesigned to accommodate additional 鈥渕ainline gates鈥� 鈥� i.e., gates where passengers board via a jet bridge rather than up a mobile staircase on the tarmac as is done at 鈥済round-load鈥� gates.

That altered Hennebery Eddy’s plan. The design team came together and realized, 鈥淲e really need to step back and reconfigure this project,鈥� Vo said.

Supportive construction work will begin around May in the ramp area outside the building, said Kama Simonds, a spokeswoman for the Port of Portland. Work is expected to stretch into 2020.

The project to balance the terminals is among those that are collectively known as PDXNext. A terminal core redevelopment designed by ZGF Architects 鈥� with Turner Construction consulting on constructability, timeline and cost estimates 鈥� will result in upgrades to the ticketing lobby and baggage areas, in addition to better seismic safety.

Meanwhile, a three-year, $19.8 million redevelopment of the airport’s restaurants and shops is ongoing.

The first PDX Next project was perhaps the most widely noticed: the replacement of PDX’s Internet-famous carpet.