Proposed Changes To DIA Could Move TSA Screening To Level 6
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver International Airport has selected a consortium it would like to partner with to make significant changes to security, baggage, shopping, and dining in Jeppesen Terminal.
DIA announced on Thursday that Ferrovial Airports is its preferred bidder for the projects. City council members and Mayor Michael Hancock will first have to approve the selection before the project can move forward.
Airport leaders want to move security screenings from Jeppesen Terminal's floor to the airport's sixth level, where ticketing and check-in currently stand.
Other potential changes include improvements to the airport's baggage handling system and a redesign of shopping and dining in the main tented terminal, called the Great Hall.
Kevin Flynn, city councilman for Denver's District 2, said he hopes the changes can bring some of the airport's most highly used and visible spaces back to the purpose for which they were originally intended. He says the airport was designed before the attacks on September 11, 2001, which changed security procedures.
"I'm very anxious to see the airport come back to life, frankly," Flynn said. "We did not foresee the kind of security needs that we have to deal with now, so, I recognize that there is an urgent need to reconfigure the security, to reopen the Great Hall to the public, to the ticketed passengers, and to the meeters and greeters who have to have access to that as well."
DIA is the 19th busiest airport in the world and serves 54 million passengers each year. Airport leaders will have the summer to negotiate with Ferrovial Airports on the scope of work and financial terms for pre-development, and bring a plan to council and the Mayor in August. If that's approved, design stages can begin.
"I want to know, can the average Denver citizen, whose city built this for them, will they still be able to go out and enjoy the Jeppesen Terminal as they used to," Flynn said.
Ferrovial is known for major projects worldwide, including one at London's Heathrow Airport that made headlines for baggage problems in 2008.
"I want to look into some of their past record," Flynn said, "it does give you pause."
Lauren DiSpirito is CBS4's Northern Newsroom reporter. Follow her on Twitter @CBS4Lauren. Share your story ideas with her here.
