"Big-Ticket Items in Budget Win Approval at Salt Lake City Airport"

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Big-Ticket Items in Budget Win Approval at Salt Lake City Airport
The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune


A resurfaced runway. Expanded terminal space. Further realignment of the
entrance and exit roads. All are big-ticket items in the $233 million budget
for Salt Lake City International Airport that was approved Wednesday. 

The airport board unanimously passed the budget during its regular monthly
meeting. It primarily covers needed maintenance and capital improvement
projects. But the scheduled road construction also keeps the airport on
track for the eventual rebuilding and expansion of the main terminal and
concourses, probably within the next decade. 

"It's a continuation of the [roads] project we've been working on," said the
airport's executive director, Tim Campbell. "We'll work on the west side
during this construction season, then do the east side next year, with some
carryover into 2006, as well as finish the landscaping." 

Airport visitors probably have noticed the new bridges being constructed.
Those are part of a road reconfiguration project that will tie into what
will be relocated long-term parking lots, and eventually, the new terminal
and concourses. 

The new terminal -- which will include 48 gates for large jets and 60 for
regional jets, as well as a new parking garage -- will be mostly west of the
existing terminals and is expected to come online sometime between 2010 and
2012. 

Beyond the long-term plans, the new airport budget also includes funding for
several large capital projects, most of which fall under the heading of
maintenance. 

Among the major tasks: stripping and repaving the center runway, and
expanding the existing terminals outward to accommodate the new, federally
mandated baggage scanning equipment. 

The center runway has worn down to the point that the "friction" landing
flights need has worn down to near minimum standards. 

The impact on airport operations will be "minimal to nonexistent," according
to Campbell. 

The terminals' exterior walls will be pushed outward to make room for the
new explosives-detection systems (EDS), which automatically scan checked
baggage. Terminal walls will be moved out about 20 feet toward the arrival
and departure passenger lanes to make room for the EDS machines -- which
will be walled off behind the ticket counters. The more-limited existing
security equipment sits in front of the ticket counters.


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