Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks has completed an expansion of its main security checkpoint, adding two screening lanes as the airport nears completion of a broader $250 million terminal overhaul.
The Connecticut Airport Authority said Wednesday that the expanded Transportation Security Administration checkpoint is fully operational, following more than three years of construction aimed at improving passenger flow and other parts of the terminal.
The project added two TSA screening lanes and expanded space for passengers waiting to go through security.
The checkpoint expansion was made possible by permanently closing the former central exit lane, which arriving passengers had used to reach baggage claim and ground transportation on the terminal’s lower level.
New exit corridors on the east and west sides of the terminal now direct arriving passengers to those areas, freeing the former central exit area for the expanded security checkpoint.
The work is part of a roughly $250 million series of improvements at Bradley that included an 80,000-square-foot baggage inspection facility, expanded ticketing space, new passenger circulation corridors and three additional airline gates.
The projects represented Bradley’s largest infrastructure upgrade in decades and were largely supported by federal funding. The improvements also included a roughly mile-long conveyor system that moves checked luggage to the new baggage screening facility.
The reconfigured main checkpoint also brings TSA PreCheck back to that location after the expedited screening program had temporarily been consolidated at Bradley’s secondary checkpoint near the Sheraton hotel.
Passengers also have access to TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, which allows eligible travelers to use facial recognition technology to verify their identity rather than presenting a physical ID. At Bradley, the service is currently available to qualifying passengers flying American, Delta, United and Southwest.
Other designated lanes at the main checkpoint include standard screening, CLEAR, priority screening and wheelchair access.
TSA Federal Security Director for Connecticut Bill Csontos said the additional lanes and queuing space should create a more streamlined screening process.
Bradley’s secondary security checkpoint remains open for passengers who have TSA PreCheck or CLEAR Plus with TSA PreCheck.
