"New Harrisburg, Pa., airport terminal offers security, convenience"

Sunday, August 22, 2004

New Harrisburg, Pa., airport terminal offers security, convenience
The Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News


Two years and two days after a ground-breaking ceremony at which an artist's
drawing of the new terminal at Harrisburg International Airport was
displayed, the real thing will open next Sunday. 

Contractors are putting the finishing touches on what airport officials
boast is the first airport terminal in the country designed with post-9/11
security considerations in mind. 

In the basement of the Y-shaped terminal is a 3/4-mile-long maze of green
and yellow conveyor belts resembling a giant pinball machine powered by 306
motors. The system moves checked luggage through one of three $1.2 million
baggage-screening machines. 

"This is the latest, latest technology," HIA Aviation Director Fred Testa
said.

Questionable bags are diverted to one of six stations for inspection by a
human screener. Oversized baggage will be hand-scanned in a separate area. 

The basement won't be open to the public. "It's a very secure basement,"
Testa said. "The president couldn't get down here without an ID." 

Six wells drilled inside and four wells drilled outside the 18-foot-deep
basement divert about 30 million gallons of water a month, according to
Testa. 

"We're built on fill. This all used to be the river," he said of the site,
which has a 14-foot water table. 

The $240 million construction project, which also includes a new parking
garage, aircraft apron, 10,000-foot parallel taxiway and instrument landing
system, is financed with federal and state grants, passenger facility
charges and airport funds. 

The new terminal has 12 multi-use jet gates and can serve up to 3 million
passengers a year, Testa said. Last year, 1.5 million travelers used the
airport in Lower Swatara Twp. 

The building can be expanded to serve up to 14 million passengers with 26
gates, although Testa doesn't expect that much growth any time soon. 

"It's built for the future," he added. 

The terminal houses an airport police station, complete with interrogation
room, two holding cells and multiple computer screens to display images from
security cameras throughout the terminal and parking garage. 

Travelers and their relatives and friends can eat at Varsity Grill and
Sports Bar and in a food court with a Hudson News/Euro Cafe, McDonald's
counter and Hershey's Ice Cream and LaVazza Coffee stand. 

While the existing terminal has only two passenger and carry-on baggage
screening lines, the new terminal will have three lines, with the potential
to expand to six lines. 

The longest walk from the security checkpoint to the farthest of the 12
boarding gates is 491 feet. 

On the secure side of the terminal will be a Perfectly Pennsylvania Gift
Shop selling only Pennsylvania-made items, a Hudson News and Hershey's
Chocolate World shop, and a Capital Cafe and Lounge. 

Frequent fliers who travel more than 25,000 miles a year can use the
Susquehanna Club, which has work areas with Internet access, a conference
room, copy and fax machines and a 52-inch television. 

The terminal's other amenities include: 

   --Free wireless Internet access. 

   --Women's rest rooms twice the size of men's rest rooms.

   --Electronic ticket check-in machines for travelers without baggage to
check. 

   --Twice as many baggage-claim carousels (four) as the old terminal.

   --Four smoking lounges equipped with separate exhaust and air-filtration
systems. 

   --A third-floor observation deck, open to the public, overlooking the
airport's 9,500-foot runway, which is capable of landing the world's largest
aircraft. 

Across from the terminal, and connected to it by a sky bridge and moving
sidewalks, is a four-story, 1.1 million-square-foot ground-transportation
center and parking garage. 

A disk on top of the garage gives it a space-age look but is actually
designed for the more mundane task of diverting snow and ice from the
building. 

Travelers will have access to rental cars, taxis, limousines, hotel shuttles
and buses on the first floor of the garage. A double-threaded helix with
both entry and exit ramps leads to the top three levels and 2,474 public
parking spaces. 

Each level has multiple security cameras and eight "panic stations" where
someone can set off an alarm to contact airport police. 

HIA spent an additional $1.2 million on white concrete to brighten the
interior of the 58-foot-tall garage. 

Construction of a $10 million train station is stalled in talks between
Amtrak and Norfolk Southern railroad, the state Department of Transportation
and HIA. The next meeting of all the parties is scheduled for Aug. 31. 

Eventually, HIA officials hope a hotel will open across from the old
terminal. Moving sidewalks would connect it to the new complex, "so you're
inside from the hotel to the plane," HIA spokesman Scott Miller said. 

The Buccini/Pollin Group of New Castle, Del., is working on a plan to
redevelop the old terminal as office space. It also will house customs
operations and two boarding gates for international travelers.


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