Editing Portland International Airport (section)

===Construction and early operations===
The Portland City Council purchased the present PDX site in 1936. It was {{convert|700|acre}} bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the [[Columbia Slough]] in the south. The city council issued US$300,000 and asked the Port of Portland to sponsor a US$1.3 million [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA) grant to develop the site into a "super airport". The project provided badly needed [[Great Depression]]-era jobs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Subtopic : Oregon in Depression and War, 1925–1945: The Most Visible of Relief Agencies|first=William|last=Robbins G.|url=http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm?subtopic_ID=106|work=The Oregon History Project|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|year=2002|access-date=August 29, 2008|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907171205/http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm?subtopic_ID=106|archive-date=September 7, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Construction of the airport steadily employed over 1,000 men, and was described by historian Neil Barker as "Portland's most significant public works improvement during the New Deal era".<ref name="Barker 2000">{{cite journal |author=Neil Barker |title=Portland's Works Progress Administration |journal=Oregon Historical Quarterly |date=Winter 2000 |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=420–21 |jstor=20615092}}</ref> The WPA and Port of Portland faced difficulties in preparing the site for construction because the low-lying area was frequently covered by flood waters from the Columbia River. Workers covered the area with over {{convert|4|e6cuyd|m3}} of sand to help drain it of water, and constructed a series of dikes to control flooding. Two runways capable of serving the modern aircraft of the time were operational by 1941.<ref name="Barker 2000" /> The airport was designated "Portland–Columbia Airport" to distinguish it from then-operating Swan Island Airport. During [[World War II]], the airfield was used by the [[United States Army Air Forces]].

The "super airport" had a terminal on the north side, off Marine Drive, and five runways (NE-SW, NW-SE, and an E-W runway forming an [[asterisk]]). This configuration was adequate until a new terminal and a longer, {{convert|8800|ft|adj=on}} east–west runway were constructed in 1952.<ref>View airport diagrams: [https://www.flickr.com/photos/12530375@N08/8089879563/sizes/h 1955] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118204041/https://www.flickr.com/photos/12530375@N08/8089879563/sizes/h |date=November 18, 2016 }} and [https://www.flickr.com/photos/12530375@N08/8089804313/sizes/h 1965]</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2024}}

In 1948 the entire airport grounds were flooded during the [[Vanport Flood]], forcing scheduled airline services to reroute to nearby [[Troutdale Airport]]. The grounds were under water for several months.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}