Low and Slow: The Great Salt Lake
Transit (TRAX) first pulled into SLC in 2013. Originally TRAX was approved in the 1990s in anticipation of the 2002 Olympics. Today, the 20,000,000 passengers yearly are able to get to and from the airport with several modes: bike, light rail, bus or car and of course plane.
Photo by Dan McNichol
We�re going to be here for seven years, explained Kevin Fauve, Project Director for Holder-Big D, as he offered an unsolicited answer to our awe over the make shift ranch created to house the engineering and construction team. Putting his LEED AP BD+C credentials to use Fauve shaped an impressive air-cooled, shaded habitat for his team's talent on the $1.8 billion terminal redevelopment program to be completed in 2022. Above in the outdoor hallways between trailers are, from left to right: Mike Williams, Program Director for The New SLC, Aileen Cho of ENR, and Bianca Shreeve, public relations and marketing manager for Salt Lake City Department of Airports.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Upon departure the Low and Slow tour team received courtesy parking during the visit to SLC. Most every visitor pays at the exit above. Clearly, parking is critical to the flow of tourism, aviation and airport revenue. That priority was witnessed on the job site.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Looking as flat as a runway I-80 took Mrs. Martin over the Great Salt Lake which is a part of the Great Basin which is the largest endorheic basin in Northern America. Most call it a salt pan. Water - unable to go anywhere - evaporates on the plains. The rain that falls on the dead lake stays there, blocked from exits to creeks, rivers and oceans that absorb run off from other watersheds. Low and Slow enjoyed the badlands that were flatlands breaking Mrs. Martin's sound barrier of 70 miles per hour for a few seconds near the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Senior project managers of the SLC Terminal Redevelopment Program pull out the stops to give Low and Slow Across America's Infrastructure tour an intensive briefing making the stop in Salt Lake City a productive adventure. Using video, still images, graphs and aerials the SLC team, led by Mike Williams (lower right side), explain the difficulties of building and a new airport inside of the existing aviation center while operations run uninterrupted.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Fred Groome, general superintendent, oversees SLC construction for Holder-Big D. Experienced in airport work, Groome was part of of the team working on Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) that claims to have saved the city of Atlanta $60 million and nearly a year off the schedule. Displaying a field marshall's air, Groome explains how a recent milestone was met. We paved 1.2 million square feet of parking lot with asphalt between July and October last year. We had 120 hardhats working around the clock with zero impact on ops. After 12 weeks the lot was ready for 2,500 vehicles. The asphalt is on the high end of the spec charts. You could land a plane on it.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Mike Williams performs an on-camera interview with Aileen Cho while standing on freshly poured concrete so fresh it is still wet. Williams explained how critical the parking facilities are at SLC. We have full garages and parking lots during the ski season. In the spring and summer months the valleys and peaks are alive with events. The rental car facilities are critical to the airport�s year round success.
Photo by Dan McNichol
A large Westerner sauntered up to Aileen and Dan from the shadows of Salt Lake City International Airport's (SLC) parking garage. Cracking a smile only after he was in spitting range Leon Nelson, construction director for the Holder-Big D joint venture says, I read about this car just the other day in ENR. And here it is! A disbelieving Nelson circled Mrs. Martin muttering, It looks rougher in real life. Having plummeted off the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, Low and Slow arrived at SLC for a hardhat tour. Strangely, their guide was the surprised Leon Nelson. Afterwards Aileen and Dan made a run for it across the Great Basin toward California.
Photo by Dan McNichol
Mike Williams, standing atop a new parking garage with and old one in the background, explains a motivator in exceeding expectations around scheduling: The facility in some areas is 50-years old. A major seismic activity would wipe out the old terminals and other buildings. The Great Salt Lake, now layers of sand, silt and salt deposits, is an undesirable foundation making airport structures susceptible to liquefaction. The soil, as one project team member said off-the-record, is crap making the driving of pipe and pile down 70 ft and the drilling stone columns 40 ft deep necessary. That's where terra firma is living.
Photo by Dan McNichol
The desert is deadly. Chances are avoided on the Low and Slow tour. Showing no shame and on his back in the Terminal One parking garage, McNichol checks all the reservoirs and vital systems. Filling the leaky differential joint with gear oil, adding a quart of 15W-40 oil to the thirsty seven-quart oil system and checking the radiator and master brake cylinder were part of the mandatory check list items.
Photo by Dan McNichol
The Low and Slow team reaches Salt Lake City, and gets an exclusive construction tour of an expanding SLC International Airport.
Click the photo to begin the slide show.
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