TalentBest Projects2013Awards

Global Best Projects, Award of Merit: MIA Mover APM System

Photo by Steven Brooke

To erect Miami International Airport's 1.27-mile-long automated people mover system—featuring trains manufactured in Japan—builders had to work above and along MIA's entranceway. Additionally, building the system's new station left just a 10-ft gap on three sides, between new construction and two existing garage structures.

Facing these logistics, Parsons-Odebrecht placed a premium on working safely. The project achieved an Occupational Safety and Health Administration incidence rate of 0.27, and earned OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program Star award. The project was completed on schedule, under budget and with no claims.

Location Miami

Project Team

Owner Miami-Dade Aviation Dept., Miami

Lead Designer/General Contractor Parsons-Odebrecht Joint Venture, Miami

Architect M.C. Harry Associates, Miami

Engineers TY Lin International, Miami; SZA Corp., Miami; NOVA Consulting, Doral, Fla.; Fraga Engineers, Miami

APM Systems Contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, New York

Scott Judy is ENR’s Managing Editor. His roughly 34 years as a construction journalist began with an 11-year stint visiting and writing about construction projects in the Midwest region of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Then, in 2000, Judy helped launch ENR Southeast, now known as ENR Texas & Southeast. After all these years, Judy says his favorite part of being an ENR editor is visiting job sites and learning how—and reporting on—a team’s approach to overcoming the project’s design and construction challenges. And Judy says he never turns down an invitation for a project visit.

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