Midway Airport Breaks Ground On New Security Pavilion Project
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Politicians, airline executives and members of the TSA broke ground on the next phase of improvements at Midway airport.
Construction is set to begin later in October on an 80,000 square foot security pavilion, that the TSA's Kevin McCarthy said will allow Midway to expand from 17 security lanes to 27.
"We'll ensure that TSA can provide the most effective and efficient security screening to passengers at Midway in years to come," McCarthy said.
Congressman Dan Lipinski is eager to see the improvements.
"My office gets a lot of those calls when the TSA line - those times when it was back all the way to the Orange Line," Rep. Lipinski said.
City Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans said the new improvements will fix that.
"This project directly addresses and will solve the issue of congestion and crowding that occurs at Midway security checkpoints. And it will dramatically improve the travel experience for passengers moving through Midway," she said.
Construction on the new bridge, across from Cicero Avenue will be seven times larger than the existing bridge and will hold more security plans with the goal of processing twice as many passengers currently at 2,500 per hour. The $323 million project is expected to be complete by the end of 2019.
