Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Lobbying for Federal Money to Build $77.5 Million Central Command Center

Officials at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are seeking federal support to build a new $77.5 million safety and security center that they say will make the airport more efficient and safe.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) toured the airport to support the project, which is still in the early stages of development, pending funding. Both sit on House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, with DeFazio serving as chair.

About $36 million of the project's price tag would be covered by federal sources, with the rest coming from fees and bonds levied by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which owns and operates MSP.

The center would combine the airport's current fire station, police department, emergency communications center, airside operations and space for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Officials are hopeful the center could be operational by 2022.

Currently, all of those operations at MSP are located in different places. In the wake of terrorist attacks at Brussels International and Istanbul Ataturk airports in 2016, TSA recommended that airport operations centers be established throughout the United States to improve communications, response times during security incidents and to promote a "unity of mission."

So far, airports in Dallas and Los Angeles have erected such centers.

"What we're trying to do is pull all these operations together," MAC Chairman Rick King said at a Tuesday news conference.

"I wanted to bring the chair [of the House transportation committee] to Minneapolis-St. Paul so he could see how spread apart we are," Craig said. "It's important to invest in the nation's infrastructure … Federal investment needs to come back to Minnesota."

DeFazio said the concept of a centralized command center brings airports "into the 21st century."

Janet Moore • 612-673-7752 @ByJanetMoore

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