State reviews all airport security
| • | Maui airport suspect charged |
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Changes planned for Hawai'i airports statewide in the wake of Sunday's incident at Kahului Airport will not prevent the curbside pick-up and drop-off of passengers, state transportation officials said yesterday.
Instead, officials plan to increase security and erect barriers to block vehicle access between the curb lane and terminal buildings, Transportation Department spokesman Scott Ishikawa said.
"We're going to have to figure out ways to allow pedestrian access without letting vehicles through," Ishikawa said.
In Sunday's incident, a man drove his SUV over a Maui airport terminal curb, down a ramp designed to provide access for disabled passengers and into the open-air terminal. He set the vehicle on fire, forcing a nearly day-long shutdown of the airport.
Transportation Department officials, who are responsible for security in the perimeter of all airport areas, yesterday began placing concrete planters and other barriers in Honolulu and Maui airport areas that link roadways and terminal buildings, Ishikawa said.
At other airports, including Kona, Hilo and Lihu'e, officials plan to increase the number of security personnel at curbside areas but won't make any immediate physical changes, he said.
The department had not previously considered such changes because they would also limit pedestrian access, he said.
"We're trying to find that balance between passengers safety and not making it so inconvenient that people won't want to use the airport," Ishikawa said.
John Fullmer, a former president of the American Institute of Architects Honolulu Chapter, said all of Hawai'i's airports were designed in a different era to be open and inviting, more so than many airports on the U.S. Mainland. In the future, designers of public spaces will have to devise ways to keep that feeling without sacrificing security, he said.
"Putting up water-filled plastic barriers is a quick and easy fix, but they're pretty ugly," he said. "You can still provide security, but you can take some steps that are less visible."
After 9/11, officials concentrated security efforts on preventing unticketed people from reaching the passenger gates. Now, the focus on security is being pushed even farther back, to curbside, Ishikawa said.
"I don't think we can afford to eliminate curbside access," he said. "People still have to drive to the airport and drop off passengers. We can't make it so constrictive that they get turned off by the whole experience."
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
