BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A project to enlarge the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport rotunda is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

The rotunda expansion is the first part of a four-phase, $9 million project that will include new enclosed curbside check-in, new flooring and new restrooms.

Ralph Hennessy, the airport's assistant director of aviation, tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/XhxXwl ) the new space will allow for future expansion of the security checkpoint from its current two lanes to three.

With the improvements, Hennessy says the rotunda will be expanded approximately 70 feet out onto the tarmac, allowing officials to move the security checkpoint farther from the escalator and stairs and providing a space for those awaiting arriving passengers.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com