Airports in Southern California, one of the nation’s most heavily populated regions, are building as much and as “green” as they can with limited space and tight budgets. Modernization projects at the San Diego, Long Beach and Los Angeles airports are requiring engineers to think creatively. Photo: Courtesy of Paragon Shuffling of L.A. airport facilities, including a new taxiway, is a complex puzzle. Rendering: Courtesy Of SUNDT San Diego airport’s outdoor ticketing and check-in lobbies will take advantage of the region’s year-round mild weather. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority’s $1-billion green-build program includes a 445,000-sq-ft expansion of Terminal
Call it Underground Zero. In the middle of the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, workers are performing an intricate balancing act with steel and concrete, excavating beneath an active subway line while a number of other projects progress around them. The top-down permanent underpinning of the subway tunnel will create much-needed space for a new nearby iconic transit station as well as other facilities. Photo: Courtesy of PANYNJ Workers are creating necessary space for a new transit station, which is hemmed in on all sides at Ground Zero. Slide Show Graphic: Courtesy of STV No. 1 subway line runs
Behind the art-decorated walls along Miami-Dade International Airport’s mile-long north terminal, construction workers are building at a feverish pace the last major piece of an overall $6.2-billion capital improvement program. After a decade that saw delays and disputes, the team hired to build the stalled $3-billion terminal expansion expects an on-time delivery next year, with no major claims. photo: Courtesy of POVJ The renovated and expanded north terminal (above) is almost complete, with almost 4 million sq ft of space. A people mover also is nearing completion (below). Photo: Courtesy Of POVJ Work on the 50-gate terminal began in 2001,
The decade-long expansion of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has suffered its share of turbulence, but the $6-billion capital program is now soaring to new heights with elevated roads and a new terminal, and to new depths, with key components located beneath an active taxiway. Photo Courtesy Of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Extension of people mover will connect new 1.2-million-sq-ft terminal beneath a taxiway to the existing concourse, for a total of 40 international gates. Photo Courtesy Of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport New international building will carry 12 gates and five floors. All construction procurements are complete, with 256 active subcontracts
Officials with the Denver International Airport will decide this year whether to move ahead with a signature rail bridge design, unveiled July 29, by architect-structural engineer Santiago Calatrava. The 720-ft-long suspension bridge would likely have a $60-million-plus price tag, which is more than double preliminary cost estimates. Photo Courtesy Of Santiago Calatrava Design by Calatrava for symmetrical suspension bridge may be too costly to build. The symmetrical, tied-arch, steel-and-concrete span is planned as part of a $650-million south terminal redevelopment, which also includes a hotel and a train station. But it is also part of a commuter rail link owned
The historic Boston University bridge is receiving a sorely needed $20-million total body makeover while still remaining open to a steady stream of cars, cyclists and pedestrians. Crossing over the Charles River, the 80-year-old Boston-Cambridge link, which provides spectacular views of Boston’s skyline, had aged to the point where the sidewalks were crumbling, the railing had rusted, and concrete was spalling. The old drainage system was so corroded that stormwater went through the bridge and into the river. The project received a boost from 2008 Massachusetts legislation that created the $3-billion, eight-year Accelerated Bridge Program. Pihl Inc., the U.S. branch
Transportation officials are eager for states to take the lead in using public-private partnerships (P3), but they seek clarity and leadership from the federal government on the future of transportation in general. A recent upsurge in major P3 deals has encouraged global firms regarding U.S. opportunities, but uncertainty over federal transportation legislation overshadows the optimism. In Washington, D.C., a keynote speech by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) P3 conference on July 22-23 did little to quell doubts. He said a highway user fee and a gas tax increase are “off
How do you pack the construction of four new 14-mile- long lanes, 58 new bridges and 900,000 sq ft of retaining wall into an active highway carrying 200,000 daily vehicles and do it in four years? Virginia’s Capital Beltway expansion team would answer: Pack all the players into one room—early and often. Then, as Virginia Dept. of Transportation senior project manager Larry Cloyed says, the team has to live by the motto “Get it done.” Photo: Courtesy Of Capital Beltway Express LLC As part of the contract, the design-build team is building connections to the Springfield Interchange at the segment’s
A highway improvement project that runs through a national park is serving as a test case for formalizing a road rating system similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating system. Photo: David Evans and Associates The U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive project in Oregon may be the first roadway to be officially rated “green.” The 3.8-mile, $16-million U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive upgrade in central Oregon runs through the Newberry National Monument. It is the furthest along of three projects the Oregon Dept. of Transportation will evaluate to determine if it will adopt standards
Ahighway improvement project that runs through a national park is serving as a test case for formalizing a road rating system similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating system. Photo: DEA A road improvement project may be the first to be officially rated “green.” The 3.8-mile, $16-million U.S. 97 Lava Butte-South Century Drive upgrade in central Oregon runs through the Newberry National Monument. It is the furthest along of three projects the Oregon Dept. of Transportation will evaluate to determine if it will adopt standards set by Greenroads, unveiled by the University of Washington and CH2M