"Grand Forks, N.D., Airport Authority Considers Upgrading Terminal"

Saturday, March 22, 2003

Grand Forks, N.D., Airport Authority Considers Upgrading Terminal
The Grand Forks (ND) Herald


The Grand Forks airport authority is considering expanding its passenger
terminal or building a new one, with options ranging from $18.4 million to
$32.7 million.

Such a project would allow the terminal to meet new security guidelines and,
in one option, give it much more room for future growth.

GFK's terminal dates back to 1964, with four renovations during the past
four decades, the oldest among the state's four major commercial airports.
It is also the smallest.

There is as yet no time frame for the expansion. The authority's board of
directors reviewed the project Thursday at its monthly meeting, but made no
motions.

Executive director Steve Johnson said the board is only looking at the
project as part of a master plan update and not as an actual proposal.
Still, he said, the discussion is starting early because of security
concerns raised after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A new terminal or an upgraded one would address many of those concerns.

Most significantly, it would push the parking lot at least 300 feet away
from the terminal. Fearing car bomb attacks, the federal government banned
parking within a 300-foot zone around the terminal after Sept. 11, taking a
third of GFK's passenger parking capacity out of use.

The government eventually allowed the airport to use all of the lot again,
but required random vehicle inspections that can be inconvenient for
passengers, Johnson said. One never knows if the 300-foot ban will return,
he said, so a new lot is a good idea.

Besides safer parking, the terminal project would harden the building
against explosions.

The additional space would also be useful for Transportation Security
Administration employees, whose increased numbers have forced some to work
in a double-wide trailer.

There are four options for the project, according to Lonnie Laffen of
Johnson Laffen Galloway Architects. (Note that the costs listed are for
comparative purposes and are not actual estimates):

   -- At $18.4 million, an option to expand and upgrade the existing
terminal is the cheapest. It calls for up to 15,700 square feet of
additional space, for a total of 40,300 square feet, to relieve congestion
in baggage claim area and give the TSA more space.

Drawings show enough space for a third boarding gate.

The most expensive part of the project would be a new $8.5 million parking
ramp and skywalk. Taking away the 300 feet in front of the terminal leaves
little space for a regular lot.

   -- A western terminal is the most radical option with a new 60,000
square-foot building on the other side of the runway, away from
administrative and maintenance buildings, UND flight school and the FedEx
terminal. Passengers would use County Road 5 instead of Airport Drive as
they do now.

Separating passenger traffic from other kinds of traffic would improve
safety, Laffen said.

The new terminal alone would cost $10.5 million. The $175 per square foot
price tag seems pricey, but, according to Laffen, that's because there's a
lot of equipment, such as boarding bridges and baggage conveyor belts built
into the cost.

The site is currently a grassy field so construction would include
utilities, parking lots and a new taxiway, among other things. GFK would
also have to buy the land from the owner. Total cost: $25 million.

The advantage of an empty field, Laffen said, is it leaves a lot of room for
future growth. Also, he said, the space left by the old terminal could be
used by UND.

UND is already planning to build a new $1.8 million hangar north of the
existing terminal. Approval could come as early as next month.

Aerospace Dean Bruce Smith said the bigger hangar would house a larger fleet
of planes, a natural consequence of increasing enrollment. For the future,
he told the board, he would be interested in using the space left by the
existing terminal.

   -- The most expensive option is to build a new terminal south of the
existing one to avoid disrupting traffic there. The problem is there are
already several administrative and storage buildings in this location, and
they would have to be razed and rebuilt somewhere else at $4.5 million cost.
The total cost would be $32.7 million.

   -- A similar option would require renting an alternative facility to
house the terminal during construction. This would allow GFK to keep all
existing buildings except the terminal, which would be demolished and
rebuilt on the same site. Total cost is $25 million, but this does not
include the cost of renting another facility.

The airport authority board is to meet again soon to discuss the terminal
project in the context of the master plan. One of the things it could
discuss is funding, which would necessarily involve the Federal Aviation
Administration.

According to Johnson, the local match, about 50 percent, could come from
facility fees or GFK could ask the city of Grand Forks for help. If facility
fees were used, though, that would commit most of the airport authority's
capital improvement fund for years.