High security restricts Washington state travel

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, September 11, 2001

By Kate Reardon and Warren Cornwall

Herald Writers

Air traffic, ferry service and railways boosted security and safety measures following the vicious terrorist attacks Tuesday morning on the East Coast.

All airports canceled flights. The Washington State Ferries was operating passenger-only routes until about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. Amtrak and Burlington Northern Santa Fe halted services for as long as four hours Tuesday to check tracks and rail cars.

The only aircraft allowed in the air Tuesday were military, law enforcement, medivacs and essential government aircraft. Air travel was expected to resume at about 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport spokesman Bob Parker said airport security cleared all concourses of passengers so bomb-sniffing dogs could perform a security sweep.

The airport was also prepared to let stranded passengers stay in the terminals overnight. Although many people left the airport, bunkbeds and cots were set up in the airport auditorium, spokeswoman Deanna Zachrisson said Tuesday afternoon. Meals and coffee were also made available to those passengers.

Some passengers were being bused from Spokane and Vancouver, British Columbia, to the airport on Tuesday afternoon, Zachrisson said.

Some midair flights had been rerouted Tuesday morning to the Seattle airport, but the Federal Aviation Administration closed the central Puget Sound area to any further arriving flights.

Erik Hanson, 18, of Stanwood expected to fly to Salt Lake City Tuesday to visit a friend. He wound up walking down the street near the airport looking for a pay phone to call his dad for a ride home.

Other passengers scrambled to find motel rooms or rental cars. Some tried to get to a phone to reach loved ones to let them know they were safe.

Like so many others around the nation, would-be passengers huddled around televisions at the airport to learn more of the attacks.

For Snohomish County’s Paine Field, closures to air traffic meant no test flights of newly built Boeing airplanes, flights that usually happen two to six times a day, airport director David Waggoner said.

"They had several flights planned today," he added.

The airport handles 200,000 takeoffs a year, or about 550 a day, Waggoner said. That includes everything from commercial jets from Boeing and Goodrich Corp., an airplane maintenance firm, to small business jets and personal airplanes.

The airport also established a security perimeter around the airport’s air traffic control tower at the FAA’s request, Waggoner said. No cars were allowed to park within 100 feet of the tower, he said.

Rob Putnam, manager at the Arlington Airport, said he called the FAA’s flight services line Tuesday morning when he learned of the attack.

"All flights are canceled," he said.

State ferries continued with service, but restricted cars for several hours on all but two routes at the Coast Guard’s request. Normal service resumed at about 2:45 p.m., said spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether.

Trains were delayed for several hours. Amtrak resumed service at about noon on Tuesday, said Stan Suchan of the state Department of Transportation.

Snohomish County’s Community Transit added buses to some of its Tuesday morning routes from Seattle to Snohomish County, since some offices in Seattle were closed for the day.

"We transport about 5,000 people from Snohomish County to the city," spokesman Tom Pearce said. "We want to make sure those folks can get back home."

Highway advisory radio stations informed motorists of heavy congestion and significant delays near the Fort Lewis and McChord military bases. Transportation Department tow trucks roamed the highway, particularly in Seattle and Tacoma, assisting the State Patrol in removing disabled or abandoned vehicles.

At the Seattle airport, Jackie Pipkins and Sarah Emery were on a Continental Airlines flight returning to Houston from a weekend birthday celebration in Seattle. The flight was turned around after about a half-hour.

"We haven’t been hit since Pearl Harbor," said Pipkins, a service manager for Continental. "It showed us our real vulnerability. We have a comfort level we’ve grown very accustomed to, and today makes you realize we take everything for granted."

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455 or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.

You can call Herald Writer Warren Cornwall at 425-339-3463 or send e-mail to cornwall@heraldnet.com.