http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0408airportfence0408.html
Airport fences to get upgrade Reinforcing and upgrading Sky Harbor enclosures could cost $10 million
Ginger D. Richardson The Arizona Republic Apr. 8, 2006 12:00 AM
The city will spend as much as $10 million reinforcing and upgrading the fences surrounding Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The airport's perimeter fencing meets or exceeds federal standards, but officials deemed the security improvements necessary last summer after a man in a stolen truck was able to breach them and gain access to the airfield.
"This project was on the horizon," said Carl Newman, assistant aviation director. "But that incident just pointed out that we needed to bring it up to a higher priority and just get it done."
Newman and other airport officials declined to release specifics about the upgrades, citing security concerns. But they do say that the enhancements include new tension-cable restraint systems and guardrails, and that gated areas are of special concern.
In those areas, they plan to install hydraulic barriers that could be raised instantly if a vehicle were trying to break through a gate.
In total, work is slated on more than 70 percent of the 14 miles of perimeter fencing that surrounds Sky Harbor.
The City Council agreed Wednesday to hire Chandler-based Sun Eagle Corp. to oversee the fence construction project, at a cost of $146,000.
"We won't be doing everything, but it will certainly be located along the public, visible access points," airport spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher said. "Certainly, anywhere where someone could get up some speed."
The June security breach began when, according to police, suspect Damian L. Holmes of Phoenix drove a late-model Nissan pickup truck through an open gate into a fire station parking lot, then smashed through a wrought-iron fence to get onto one of Sky Harbor's taxiways.
Police say Holmes sped past several passenger-filled planes before crashing into a second fence west of Terminal 2, where he was apprehended.
More than 50 flights were delayed in the process.
Holmes was indicted in U.S. District Court in September on one count of violence at an international airport, a felony. He faces up to 20 years in prison, said Sandy Raynor, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In the weeks immediately after the breach, airport officials installed more than 350 concrete "jersey" barriers at key points around Sky Harbor's perimeter. But the large blocks were never meant to be a permanent solution, Ostreicher said.
These new upgrades will be, although this is not the first time that Phoenix has worked to shore up Sky Harbor's perimeter.
Airport officials had previously identified the fence line's most vulnerable areas and made improvements to them as part of an overall master security plan that was completed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In many areas, they have also raised the perimeter fence's overall height to 8 feet, roughly 2 feet higher than the current federal standard, and replaced the barbed wire along the top with razor wire.
Officials estimate it will take at least 18 months to complete most of the upgrades. As soon as this security project is complete they will embark on their next effort: a perimeter intrusion detection system that is designed to detect criminals lurking around the airport's edges. Currently, the airport uses police patrols and other measures that officials declined to discuss to protect Sky Harbor from attack.
Overall, Sky Harbor has earmarked about $100 million for homeland-security improvements, which thus far have included bomb-proofing key areas of the airport, installing explosive-resistant garbage plans, instituting a new fingerprinting system, placing barricades in front of doors, and beefing up the number of bomb-dog teams on the premises.
Sky Harbor officials get money for the enhancements from a combination of grants and fees they charges to the airlines and passengers that use the airport.
Reach the reporter at ginger.richardson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2474.