|
Airport Work Takes Off
Construction Proceeds at Airports All Across State
From commercial to general aviation facilities, Texas airports are preparing for a safer future. Projects from Houston to Amarillo are adding capacity and safety measures.
By Deb Wood
Construction projects to upgrade terminals, airfields and amenities have taken off at Texas airports trying to meet increasing demands for service.
 At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a new $66 million perimeter taxiway system is being designed to improve safety and enable arriving aircraft to taxi around active runways rather than cross them.
“The concept of perimeter taxiways is new,” says Perfecto Solis, PE, vice president for airport development and engineering at DFW. “This airport is on the leading edge of this technology.”
The airport, the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA collaborated to plan and evaluate the taxiway system. The work included virtual testing at NASA Ames FutureFlight Central in California.
The FAA will provide 75 % of the construction funding. It anticipates the new perimeter taxiway will decrease the risk of runway incursions and improve airport capacity and efficiency. DFW is the world’s third-busiest airport with 1,900 flights per day. It serves 59 million passengers annually.
The project includes adding 10,500 lin ft of perimeter taxiway and 1,800 lin ft of high-speed exit taxiway; building a 10,000-lin-ft roadway to serve the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting station; installing two 20-ft-high by 700-ft-long visual screens to avoid pilot distractions; erecting a 9,000-lin-ft post-and-cable barrier fence system; and relocating a public recreation area that allows people to watch planes landing and taking off.
At DFW’s southeast quadrant taxiway, W.W. Webber of Houston began working on its $43 million contract in October as part of the $66 million project, which has several prime subcontractors. Crews are excavating and extending an existing vehicular roadway. Texas Industries of Dallas received a $7 million contract to provide the concrete and cement base, and Kdat Construction of Arlington, Texas, was awarded a $4 million contract for asphalt paving and visual screens. EAS Contracting of Carrollton, Texas, received a $3 million contract for electrical work; Hayward Baker of Fort Worth a $2 million contract for water injection; Breda Co. of Southlake, Texas, a $1.5 million contract for reinforcing steel; and Johnson County Pipe of Alverado, Texas, a $1.5 million contract for supplying the reinforced concrete pipe. The project is scheduled for completion in September 2008.
Houston
The Houston Airport System is in the midst of a $200 million, 18-year capital improvement program. It includes work at Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport.
As part of that plan, construction manager at risk Clark Construction Group of Bethesda, Md., began a $54 million, 50,000-sq-ft, structural-steel frame addition to provide five gates for Southwest Airlines at Hobby.
The project began in January 2006 and wrapped up 2.5 months early. Clark achieved substantial completion in April. It did not receive an early completion bonus. All work took place in a fully fenced-in area within the operating airport, which Clark Senior Project Manager Chris Desko considered the most challenging aspect of the job. All materials and employees had to be escorted by a security guard into the work site. Once there, employees could not leave without a security escort.
In May, Clark began hazardous material abatement, for lead paint and asbestos, before demolishing two existing concourses. That work will continue into mid-2008.
As part of the same contract, Clark will renovate the existing building to accommodate a baggage-screening system and other security upgrades, says Eric Potts, deputy director of planning design and construction for the Houston Airport System. This aspect of the job remains in preconstruction, with estimating and bidding taking place.
The airport system also plans to install an automated baggage-handling system at Bush Intercontinental. And, an aboveground people mover at Bush is in design stages.
Also in Houston, when existing private air facilities closed to allow for residential development, former corporate pilot and telecommunications professional Ron Henriksen decided to establish a new $36 million general aviation facility—Houston Executive Airport. Henroksen will fund the entire project. He did not seek or receive any federal or state funding for the project, which sped the construction process, says Andrew Perry, airport executive director. Houston Executive is about an hour away from Hobby and Bush airports.
Henriksen’s company, WCF of Houston, has spent $18 million in the past year developing a 5,050-ft-long by 100-ft-wide runway with a full parallel taxiway. Tribble & Stephens Constructors of Houston completed the work, which involved converting a private airstrip to a public access airport. The first plane landed at the facility in August 2006, and the airport officially opened in January.
B & A Builders of Katy, Texas, began constructing the first set of 10 hangers in March at the executive airport. B & A’s $1 million contract includes additional taxiways and should be complete this summer. Perry says he expected bids soon to build the $3.5 million terminal and a fixed base operator hanger.
San Antonio
The San Antonio Airport System has a couple of projects under way to accommodate increasing passenger counts. San Antonio International Airport has set records for passenger growth in 2005 and 2006, serving 10 % more passengers annually. In 2006, 8 million people used the airport.
“The San Antonio economy is growing,” says David Hebert, spokesperson for the San Antonio Department of Aviation. “The airport and the number of passengers mirror the local economy, and the past two years have been good.”
Bartlett Cocke Contractors of San Antonio is building a $42 million, five-level, 2,800-car, long-term parking garage at San Antonio International. The city expects Archer Western, part of The Walsh Group of Chicago, to start construction later this summer on roadway improvements. The airport plans to begin building a new terminal replacement next year.
At the city’s general aviation facility, Stinson Municipal Airport, Garco Contracting Co. of San Antonio began a $4.8 million expansion in May 2006. It will add 24,000 sq ft of office, concession and classroom space. The Palo Alto College of San Antonio conducts airport management and mechanical classes at the airport.
Beaty & Partners of San Antonio designed dual two-story wings to fit on either side of a 91-year-old, stone-clad, art deco terminal, with a flight tower on top. The addition is clad with limestone, in the same color as the existing building but cut in a regularly coursed pattern to differentiate it from the old, and prefinished metal panels with concealed fasteners.
“[The new wings] are respectful of the old art deco design, but it’s a stylized contemporary version of that,” says Terry Palmer, project architect with Beaty & Partners.
The airport began as a World War I flight training facility. Because of the lack of good documentation about existing utilities, the project required a significant amount of hand digging to avoid disrupting critical services, Palmer says. A lot of the utilities had been abandoned, but workers had to carefully go through and verify each one.
Waco
The City of Waco has several upgrades under way at Waco Regional Airport. In May, Knife River of Waco substantially completed a $1.7 million project to make safety improvements to the areas just past the end of the runways.
“We did storm drainage and earth work to get the proper slope on the material out past the runway,” says Jimmy Talbert, estimator and project manager for Knife River.
Don Andrews, vice president of aviation for Reynolds Smith & Hills of Houston, adds, “It was done to bring the airport into compliance with the latest standards.”
Only one Waco runway meets current FAA standards of being 1,000 ft long. In phase two, planned for 2009-2010, the airport plans to add pavement to extend the other runways. In 2006, 150,894 passengers used the airport.
Imperial Construction of Weatherford, Texas, was expected to complete a $1.5 million, 4-sq-ft Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting station at Waco Regional in June. RSH designed the replacement station to blend in with the terminal’s existing architecture.
Richard Howell, Waco’s director of aviation, says that by midsummer the city plans to proceed with two terminal projects to accommodate security-screening operations. The first, at $1.3 million, would add 4,500 sq ft of administration space and the second, at $2.1 million, would increase the existing passenger holding area by 160 seats. Apparent low bidders are Imperial and Barsh Construction of Waco, respectively.
Amarillo
Amarillo International Airport plans a $45 million, 20-month renovation, scheduled to start in the fall. The work will consolidate two concourses into a single one with streamlined security operations and behind-the-scenes baggage screening to provide better customer service for passengers, says Scott Carr, assistant airport manager.
The work has yet to be bid. Useful Sources:
Dallas-Forth Worth Airport
http://www.dfwairport.com/cdp/index.html
Houston Executive Airport
http://www.southwallercountyairport.com
Stinson Municipal Airport
http://www.sanantonio.gov/aviation/stinson_information.asp
Waco Regional Airport
http://www.waco-texas.com/airport/construction.htm
|
print this page
e-mail this page
