PORTLAND – Plans are on track for a better traffic management system at the Portland International Jetport.

But don’t look for work on access roads, runways or in the control tower. Instead, the focus is on the inside of the terminal.

Additional Photos

The extent of the expansion to the Portland International Jetport is apparent to travelers arriving via car. The project cost $75 million. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Keith Salach, front, and Mike Twitchell, rear, of Allegheny Contract Flooring, grind and polish concrete flooring on the third floor of the expansion of the jetport in Portland. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

The $75 million expansion project, which will add three gates, provide a substantial addition to the seating area and improve ticketing and baggage handling capabilities, is expected to open in early October, said Paul Bradbury, the airport’s manager.

A big change for passengers, he said, will be a separation of the security checkpoint and the exit from the gate area.

Those two are currently side by side, which can lead to congestion, especially when security lines are long, passengers are getting off a plane and people are waiting at the exit to greet them.

With the new arrangement, which puts the security area and the exit on opposite sides of the seating area, “they’re not all colliding,” Bradbury said.

The security check, he said, will be in the addition to the terminal, which at 137,000 square feet is almost as large as the existing building. The exit from the gate area will stay about where it is because it leads to an escalator that goes to the baggage claim area.

The new terminal will include additional ticketing areas and a larger and better-equipped baggage handling area, in addition to the bigger seating area and three jetways. The expansion itself is also built expansion-ready, Bradbury said, with room for two additional gateways that can be added easily if demand rises.

Right now, Bradbury said, “we’re doing too much business in too little space.”

Via an over-the-road pedestrian bridge, the new section ties into the parking garage, which was expanded previously at a cost of $65 million. Passengers can either go from the bridge to the ticketing area or directly to the security check and then into the gate area.

The project also includes an innovative new heating and cooling system that will use a geothermal well field located near the terminal. It will save about 100,000 gallons a year in heating oil, a substantial savings given the recent rise in oil costs.

Greg Mitchell, Portland’s economic development director, said the expansion — which is being paid for with per-ticket passenger fees and a boost last year from federal stimulus funds — is a good value. The construction itself also supplies a substantial boost to the economy, and city officials note that it’s the largest construction project currently under way in the state.

“Investments in our transportation assets are the underpinnings to support future growth and opportunity,” Mitchell said. “It’s critical to connect us to the outside world.”

Bradbury said airport officials probably won’t know until this summer how the new terminal will be used by a key tenant — AirTran Airways, which is being purchased by the nation’s largest carrier, Southwest Airlines.

Bradbury said federal rules require the airlines to operate independently until the Federal Aviation Administration approves the merger of the two entities. Only then will the airline be able to determine changes to routes and schedules, he said.

AirTran, which has a lease on its space at the airport that runs until 2015, currently offers daily nonstop flights to Baltimore-Washington International in Baltimore and a nonstop to Orlando on Saturdays. The airline also offers daily flights to Atlanta during the late spring, summer and early fall.

At the time the purchase of AirTran was announced, analysts said a key reason was that it provided a way for Southwest to quickly get into the Atlanta market, so it’s possible that flights between Atlanta and Portland could increase.

Southwest also operates a significant hub in Philadelphia, creating the possibility of more flights there.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com

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