"Six screening areas OK'd for Illinois airport"

Friday, November 1, 2002

Six screening areas OK'd for airport
Stations to be set up by year's end
By OMAR SOFRADZIJA
The Peoria (IL) Journal Star


PEORIA - The Greater Peoria Regional Airport will get the number of
baggage-screening stations that airport officials say they need, and those
stations will be in place before a federally mandated Dec. 31 deadline,
airport officials said Thursday.

That deadline had been in doubt after the federal Transportation Security
Administration planned to slash the number of stations from six to three.
TSA officials relented this week, restoring the original number of planned
stations.

Peoria airport officials balked at the initial reduction, fearing that fewer
stations would cause lengthy backups for travelers trying to have their bags
screened and checked in.

"I think it shows if you work with the TSA and you work together to solve a
problem, we can accomplish a lot," Peoria airport director Solomon Balraj
said. "I'm pleased we'll be able to meet the Dec. 31 deadline with the least
amount of impact to our traveling public."

A solid date when the stations will be in place before the year-end deadline
is still pending.

Balraj said local officials were firm in their insistence that six stations
were needed, recruiting U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood - a Peoria Republican and
frequent advocate for air service in central Illinois - to smooth talks
between Peoria airport officials and TSA leaders in Washington, D.C.

"We just took the approach that if you're going to cut that down from six to
three (stations) we won't proceed with the project," Balraj said. "We were
quite serious in protecting our airlines and our traveling public."

That would have been a major blow to the TSA, which has been mandated by
Congress to screen all checked baggage for explosives at all of the nation's
429 commercial airport by year's end.

One issue yet to be resolved is the number of security checkpoints the
airport will have. The TSA wants to retain a single checkpoint, while Peoria
airport officials said two are needed.

"We're still working through it," Balraj said, though the TSA has moved a
bit toward Peoria's direction in planning a terminal redesign that would
allow for the addition of a second checkpoint.

However, it appears likely that local taxpayers may have to pick up part of
the cost of a redesign - which would necessitate moving the airport's gift
shop - and all of the cost of adding a second checkpoint. Cost estimates
were not available this week.

"It's moving forward . . . We still have to figure out how much it's going
to cost and get the (gift shop) tenant to move," Balraj said.

Unlike the congressional mandate to have baggage-screening stations in place
by year's end, there is no deadline to have security checkpoints added or
realigned. In the most optimistic scenario, Balraj expects a redesigned
checkpoint area to be finished sometime early next year.

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