Study could reopen airport parking lot

Since the tragic events of Sept. 11, the 175-space parking lot at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has sat empty while air travelers have been forced to park in makeshift gravel lots at least 300 feet from the terminal.

That's because the Federal Aviation Administration sees all airports as potential terrorist targets and all unauthorized vehicles as conceivable four-wheeled bombs.

But airport manager Bruce Loy thinks a study can determine what a bomb blast would do to the airport and which safety measures should be implemented to satisfy the FAA to allow parking in the nearby lot.

"We still want to be safe and secure, but we want to get as much of the parking lot back while still being safe and secure," Loy said.

The Cape Girardeau City Council has hired a Mississippi-based firm that is approved by the FAA to perform a blast assessment study at the airport. Within the next two weeks, Applied Research Associates Inc. will begin studying the airport's structural soundness, Loy said. The firm, which was founded in 1979 to pursue research in nuclear weapons effects, will be paid $12,000 for its work.

"Basically, they're going to see what a blast would do to the airport," Loy said. "Then they'll make recommendations about how the damage could be minimized."

Loy said recommendations could range from something as simple as reinforcing the glass to prevent shattering to something more expansive like building a dirt berm between the parking lot and the airport terminal.

Loy said the FAA is allowing some airports to allow parking within 300 feet after making the terminals safer, and only if the changes are based on such recommendations from blast studies.

Gravel lot open

Since the FAA required unauthorized vehicles to be parked at least 300 feet away, the airport structured a 100-by-200-foot gravel lot, and Loy said they plan to open a second lot today.

The airport also is offering a shuttle service from the lots to the terminal, Loy said, and that cost money for the rental vehicle and the driver's salary.

At Monday's council meeting, 1st Ward councilman Frank Stoffregen said the study is a waste of money.

"What are the real chances of a terrorist attacking that airport?" Stoffregen said. "A poor terrorist would have to wait all day long for 20 people to be at the airport to blow them up."

Stoffregen said he can't imagine any improvements to the airport that would make it "blast-proof." Stoffregen suggested that with time the rules likely will be reversed, and then the study and any subsequent work would be for nothing.

"We should leave it the way it is and people can park in those gravel lots for right now," he said. "It doesn't make sense to me to spend our taxpayers' hard-earned dollars that really won't do anything in the long run."

Loy said the problem with waiting is the FAA has said to prepare for these new regulations to be in place awhile.

"We have no indication from anyone how long we're going to have to abide by this special amendment to our federal regulations," he said. "All we're being told is to plan on the long term."

Mayor Al Spradling III said it probably will end up being a "waste of money."

"But in order for the airport to be more efficiently operated, it needs to be considered," he said. "It's $12,000, and that's cheaper than the cost of a new parking lot."

The council voted unanimously to enter into the contract.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137