Airport Construction: No Delay Expected for Southeast

Throughout the Southeast, airports are undertaking construction projects to upgrade busy facilities.

By Debra Wood

Spurred by rebounding air travel, Southeast airports have launched multiple projects to handle increasing numbers of passengers and to upgrade baggage systems, as passenger volume is expected to nearly double in the next 10 years.

"The Federal Aviation Association has predicted a billion passengers annually by 2015," said Eryn Travis, spokesperson for the American Association of Airport Executives in Alexandria, Va. "To meet that demand, the aviation system has to add capacity, and that's an important issue for the aviation community, adding runways, taxiways."

North Carolina

Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C., has undertaken multiple projects, totaling between $175 million and $200 million, to accommodate a new FedEx Mid-Atlantic hub, said Mickie Elmore, director of development for the airport.

The work includes grading the 175-acre FedEx parcel, building a 9,000-ft.-long runway and 1-mi.-long connecting taxiway and relocating a major thoroughfare, said Elmore, who expects the project will be complete by 2009.

Vecellio & Grogan of Greensboro, N.C., has moved about 4 million cu. yds. of dirt to level the FedEx parcel, Elmore said. The airport authority expects FedEx to begin construction this fall.

Vecillio & Grogan has also holds the contract to move a 2-mi. section of Bryan Boulevard. That job was scheduled for completion in October.

D.H. Griffin Cos. and EME, both of Greensboro, are demolishing old warehouse and office buildings to prepare the area for final grading. Phase three, scheduled to go to bid in 2007, will include paving and lighting the runway.

Elmore expected W.C. English Construction Co. Inc. of Lynchburg, Va., to complete phase one of the taxiway, constructing a bridge over an interior roadway, by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Blythe Construction Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., has begun working on phase two of the taxiway-site clearing and building a tunnel under the taxiway.

Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta received a $257.6 million contract from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport Authority to update and expand Terminal C.

Work began in April, with steel scheduled to rise in the fall. Scheduled for completion in 2010, Terminal C will become the airport's main terminal and include an expanded federal inspection facility to process more international passengers. The project will more than double the size of the terminal from 330,000 sq. ft. to 890,000 sq. ft.

Shelco of Charlotte began building a $34 million, five-level, 3,000-car parking garage at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in January, said Galen Heying, vice president of project management for Shelco.

The 1-million-sq.-ft., cast-in-place, post-tensioned concrete facility will consume 35,000 cu. yds. of concrete, he added. It is set to open in April.

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Florida

Work continues on Miami International Airport's North and South terminals.

"We've made a lot of progress on the South Terminal," said John Cosper, deputy director of capital improvements for Miami-Dade County Aviation Department. "We added $105 million in scope to the South Terminal project."

That brings the total construction cost to about $800 million. Incorporating the new fiber-optic communication, security and facilities system improvements has pushed the completion date back to February, Cosper said.

The construction manager at risk, a joint venture between Parsons Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., and Odebrecht Construction Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla., has turned some of the space over for airlines to begin build-out of their sections, Cosper said.

In 2005, after taking over construction responsibility for the North Terminal from American Airlines, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department awarded Parsons-Odebrecht a $542 million, four-year managing-general-contractor contract for that 3.4-million-sq.-ft. terminal.

But there have been some difficulties.

"We've had significant issues with our budget due to high bids," Cosper said. "In some cases, we have been successful in negotiating them down, but in others cases, we are rebidding."

Cosper cited escalating material prices and labor shortages due to South Florida's booming construction industry as factors in pushing costs up.

Miami-Dade Aviation has rephased the work and will likely cut out portions of the project, such as architectural structural changes, to bring the cost closer to budget, said Cosper, adding that it would not eliminate the four major components: 49 gates, a baggage-handling system, a people mover on the roof and a federal inspection services facility.

Next year, the airport will close the North Terminal's Concourse A, which will pull the project out of the aircraft-operating area, easing security requirements, Cosper said. He added that the closing should save two years and as much as $200 million.

The new goal for completion of the North Terminal stands at 2012.

Miami-Dade Aviation began negotiations in August with Parsons-Odebrecht and Sumitomo/Mitsubishi to design, build, operate and maintain for 20 years a people mover from the airport to the 1.2-million-sq.-ft. Miami Intermodal Center.

Earth Tech of Long Beach, Calif. is providing program management services for the MIC for the Florida Department of Transportation, said MIC spokesperson Ric Katz.

Turner Construction Co. of Miami performed foundation work for the $221 million Rental Car Center, the first building to be constructed, Katz added. FDOT planned to select a contractor in late September to build the facility and for construction to begin in January, with completion in 2010, he said.

The next phase of the MIC, a central station, is still under development, Katz added.

Neighboring Broward County also has launched a major airport expansion plan. The airport has experienced a tremendous influx of cruise passengers and South American passengers, said Barry Lagerstedt, director of planning and development for the Broward County Aviation Department.

Lagerstedt expects to take a $2.5 billion master plan to the board of county commissioners in September.

Meanwhile, several construction projects are under way.

Broward County expected a $10 million tollbooth relocation project by a joint venture between James A. Cummings of Fort Lauderdale, and Centex Construction, Plantation, would wrap up in October. It was undertaken to prepare for future pedestrian bridges, said airport spokesperson Gregory Meyer.

Triple R Paving of Davie received a $25 million contract in May to extend an existing taxiway and upgrade drainage and infrastructure on the airport's west side. Completion is scheduled for early 2008.

Skanska USA Building of Dania Beach is constructing a $20.5 million inline baggage system at terminals 2 and 3. The project began in A pril and will finish in January 2007.

At terminal 4, Skanska is upgrading ticket counters, expanding the customs and federal inspection services areas, and installing a new baggage screening system. The $30 million job will wrap up in December 2007.

Up the coast in Palm Beach County, James A. Cummings of Fort Lauderdale began constructing a $61 million, seven-story, precast concrete parking garage with about 3,500 spaces, said John Church, vice president of Cummings.

The project includes building pedestrian bridges to an adjacent parking structure and the terminal, he added. Church expects to finish the 1.3 million-sq.-ft. project by the end of 2007.

Across the state at Pensacola Regional Airport, Phoenix Construction Services of Lynn Haven, Fla., is tearing out and replacing a 6,853-ft.-long runway, said Ted Schoppe, senior project manager. The company started the phased job in April and will complete it next May, he said.

Crews will complete about half of the runway and then have 45 nights to work on the sections abutting an active intersecting runway, Schoppe added. That work will begin after the last flight leaves and crews must have the area open and safe before the first morning flight, he added.

The project also includes pipe jacking reinforced concrete storm-drainage pipes under the active runway, using a tunneling machine that cuts through the dirt, pushes the pipe and maintains a constant pressure, Schoppe said. There are two 130-ft. runs of 54-in. pipe, one 177-ft. run of 84-in. pipe and one 125-ft. run of 72-in. pipe, he said.

Useful sources:
Raleigh-Durham International Airport
http://www.rdu.com/

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
http://www.atlanta-airport.com/default.asp?url=http://www.atlanta-airport.com/fifth/ceela2.htm