7 checkpoints open at McCarran

Jace Radke

Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

Transportation Security Administration officials now have seven new security checkpoints at McCarran International Airport to help break up the bottleneck of travelers during peak travel times.

The seven new checkpoints bring the total number of checkpoints at the C and D gates to 19. Overall the airport now has 32 screening checkpoints.

"It gives us more capability to handle the busy times when we get that crush of people," Jim Blair, TSA director at McCarran, said.

The new checkpoints will be used as needed to handle the flow of passengers, but by early next year all of the checkpoints may have to be operating to handle the increased numbers of passengers expected with the completion of the 10-gate D wing expansion.

"We now have the capability to support those gates," Blair said.

Last month the TSA increased the number of screeners at McCarran from 823 to 1,054, and Blair said he is in the process of filling those new positions.

"We're bringing them on, and expect to have them all onboard for the opening of the D Gate expansion," Blair said. "Through scheduling and working with what we have now, we'll be able to open the new checkpoints during those peak times when we need them."

While hiring continues, the airport is currently nearing a staff of about 900 screeners, Blair said.

Blair added that the airport and the TSA are still "tweaking" the new checkpoints to determine the best way to quickly pass travelers through the area to the gates beyond. Traffic patterns and lane placement remain a work in progress, Blair said.

In the past, lines of travelers stretched back along two walkways above the first floor baggage claim area. The $10 million checkpoint expansion project covered over about a fourth of the balcony area on the second floor, adding additional space in front of the checkpoints for passengers to queue up in.

Expansion projects at the airport are based on the number of travelers and flights to and from Las Vegas and are not built unless those numbers are large enough to require the new facilities, airport officials said.