SECURITY

on her way from Castle Rock to New York City. “I like that (the unloading area) is in the round. … And it’s a little less — well, they yelled less,” she said, laughing, about the agents.

The bins are about 25 percent larger than the ones in use on DIA’s other lanes, so even roller bags fit in them. At the end of the line, empty bins are dropped into a lowerdeck conveyor that takes them back to each individual unloading station.

Passengers whose items are flagged for screening by hand now meet their bin and an agent at stations past the end of the line. When the agent sets the bin down, it triggers the Xray image to pop up on a screen to aid the review.

The Transportation Security Administration has allowed 12 to 15 U.S. airports to test “automated screening lanes” using the newer setup, at the airports’ own cost. Larry Nau, TSA’s federal security director for Colorado, said about 140 ASLs now are approved for use nationally.

DIA says it invested about $4 million in installing the two new lanes, including about $2.5 million for new equipment manufactured by Scarabee Aviation Group. The lanes were shoehorned between existing lanes on the terminal floor’s north end, adding new capacity.

Adoption of the setup for all screening will require an investment of roughly $35 million, Day said.

Three and a half years of renovation work that’s now underway will remake much of the building. The $650 million renovation is part of a 34year, $1.8 billion publicprivate partnership deal with Great Hall Partners, and Day said the cost for the full upgrade of screening lines likely would come from a $120 million contingency fund that was created as part of that deal.

In late 2020, DIA expects to close the two main securityscreening areas on the main floor as well as an alternate checkpoint on the bridge to Concourse A. They will be replaced by two new TSArun screening points on each side of the terminal’s upper level, located to the north of reconfigured checkin areas.