More security changes in store at McCarran

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

Airport designers have always let traveler comfort and convenience guide their plans, but since safety has moved to the forefront the nation's airports face millions of dollars in renovations if they are to meet new federal security standards.

Bag-screening tables, concrete barriers and hundreds of stanchions are among the quick fixes that dot the landscape at McCarran International Airport.

"Being in Las Vegas, we always wanted to make the airport a nonevent for travelers," Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County deputy director of aviation, said.

"We didn't even want them to remember being in an airport, just that they came to Las Vegas and then they found themselves back at their home.

"At the beginning of all of our meetings before Sept. 11 we'd discuss customer service, but now security and safety have become No. 1."

At McCarran, officials are scrambling to comply with new federal security regulations, and at the same time predict what new construction will be needed at a terminal that last had a large-scale face-lift in 1985.

But the rules have changed.

In the late 1990s, when architect Windom Kimsey was designing the airport's D gates, certain safety requirements had to be met.

Security wasn't of great concern, however.

"Good airport design is based on efficient circulation of travelers through a pleasant space," said Kimsey, who noted that these concerns are now balanced by security.

"I think the biggest changes we'll see is in the ticketing area, where there will need to be more room for these bomb machines and other bag checking."

The airport's basic security measures -- using concrete barriers to block a lane at the departures curb and closing what was once the airport's short-term parking garage to the public -- were relatively easy to put in place compared with finding space for minivan-sized bomb-detection machines.

McCarran may have to do some remodeling in the ticketing area to accommodate the machines, which must be in place by Dec. 31. Airport planners estimate that 60 of the $1 million machines, which are paid for by the Federal Aviation Association, will be needed to screen every piece of baggage in a timely manner. Currently the facility has two of the devices.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker has estimated that the cost to fit the large machines into current facilities would be in the millions.

McCarran is experiencing what many airports are facing, said Mike Steer, air transportation director of URS Corp., an international company that designed and constructed the $3.7 billion Denver International Airport and is managing the $7.4 billion redevelopment of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

"Everyone is trying to understand the new regulations and see where they need to make changes in the current buildings," Steer said.

McCarran officials are looking to balance the needed security changes with convenience, Vassiliadis said.

"We want to keep the lines manageable," Vassiliadis said. "It's a lot like Disneyland out there right now, but we're looking at ways we can fit more checkpoints in and move the lines through faster."

Since Sept. 11 an additional checkpoint was added at the C gate entrance, and planners are looking at the possibility of staggering checkpoints to better use available space.

Planners are also considering building a wall between the C and D gate tram areas, so that in the event of a security breach at those checkpoints only one of the concourses will have to be evacuated, Vassiliadis said.

McCarran has also tightened security around its perimeter. The number of access points have been cut and delivery times are more strictly followed.

The perimeter and outer facing parts of the nation's airports are where Steer envisions the most significant design changes.

"We're going to have to look at how close roadways come to the terminal, where parking structures are and how close nonscreened people and cars can get to the outside of the airport," Steer said. "More barriers and probably some internal design that strengthens outer walls will also be looked at."

Because airport officials are trying to keep up with new security regulations, expansion projects have been delayed. At McCarran, a $700 million third terminal, $110 million consolidated rental car center and the $97 million third wing of the D gates have been put on hold.

"We're looking at expansion differently then we did before," Vassiliadis said. "With the new terminal we'll want to look at plans for parking and possibly at providing more space in the bag rooms behind the counters."

The expansions will not move forward until passenger counts return to a level that requires them, Vassiliadis said.

"All of our projects are based on growth," she said. "The national airspace had never been closed before, so we're being cautious and watching our passenger counts."

When the projects begin, architects will face some new restrictions. Still, they will have the freedom to create designs such as the 45-foot-tall window that faces the runways from the D gates' Great Hall, Kimsey said.

"I don't think we'll see less glass or the other design elements that make flying more of an enjoyable experience, but that may be more confined to the parts of the airport that are secure," Kimsey said.01