"Screening delays plague Midway"

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Screening delays plague Midway 
BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH
The Chicago (IL) Sun-Times


In late May, two new screening lanes were installed at Midway Airport's sole
checkpoint to ease the horrendous wait times for travelers.

"They helped, but they haven't solved the problem," Chicago Aviation
Commissioner Thomas Walker said Tuesday, noting waits still can be 30
minutes or more even at non-peak periods.

To whittle down the lines, two more lanes will be added in coming weeks and
city officials are stepping up efforts to add another six lanes, along with
a widened bridge over Cicero Avenue, by next year.

But those still are considered "mid-term" fixes, Walker said. Ultimately,
he'd like to see two more bridges built over Cicero, each with its own
checkpoint.

"We need more than one central point where people can come across," Walker
said. "We need redundancy. We would look at doing a separate one to the
south and perhaps later another one to the north."

Funding may ultimately determine if and when they get built, and if and when
the existing checkpoint is widened by six lanes. Walker wants the
Transportation Security Administration to cover 75 percent of costs. The TSA
has been reluctant to commit money for such projects.

Midway's passenger levels were up 11 percent during the first six months of
2003. And it remains one of the most delay-prone airports flight-wise,
partly because airlines have been holding flights.

Last week, Southwest and ATA airlines warned TSA's Midway chief that the
problem will worsen if nothing is done now.

TSA spokeswoman Chris Rhatigan said some O'Hare screeners might operate
Midway's two new lanes.


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