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Mega
projects
Everything is big in Texas. The Dallas/Fort Worth International
Airport, always the epitome of big, is now getting bigger.
In its effort to remain the most important transportation
hub in the south central United States, DFW is investing
$2.7 billion over 5 years, with project completion scheduled
for 2005.
There are several major elements to what it has dubbed
the Capital Development Program; of most interest from
a concrete viewpoint are the new International Terminal
D and the new Automated People Mover.
Started in 1999, this job was well underway when the
tragedy of 9/11 caused a re-examination of the project.
But, unlike what happened with many U.S. airport projects,
DFW did not change its plans. "We took a long-term
view and held the course," says Mark Skjervem,
Terminal D managing executive. "DFW was committed
to the effort, so we kept going." |
Terminal D--Joining existing terminals
A, B, C, and E, the new Terminal D will allow DFW to
consolidate all international travel into one terminal.
The security system here can handle 2800 passengers
an hour, 37,000 passengers per day. The project was
already under construction on 9/11, but security concerns
resulted in some reconfiguration that ended up adding
about 3 months to the schedule. Mostly this was a result
of design changes made to create greater building resilience
in case of blasts from car bombs.
Although the terminal is a steel-frame structure with
a stainless steel roof, its concrete decks are topped
with terrazzo. The 12-story Hyatt hotel that is structurally
integral with the terminal building is structural concrete
with a glass facade. Originally designed as a post-tensioned
structure, the reinforcement was switched to conventional
steel in the aftermath of 9/11.
The connected parking structure is one of the world's
largest, with 8100 parking spaces and a "Smart
Technology System" to lead parkers directly to
empty spaces. For the standard post-tensioned post-and-beam
structure, the concrete mix was developed to get up
to post-tensioning strength within 2 days. This was
confirmed with cylinder breaks and verified with maturity
meters; the forms were stripped after 3 days.
Concrete was mixed onsite by Hanson and poured every
work day for two years, with adjustments made for weather.
During the summer, pours were made at 1:00 a.m. although
the concrete didn't get as hot as it might have because
the distance from the onsite plant was short. Hanson
did use some ice in the summer and some hot water in
winter. "Hanson's QC program kept the concrete
where we needed it to be," says Bill Wallace, project
superintendent, Austin Commercial-Terminal D Project.
"And those maturity meters gave us the confidence
to start pulling the post-tensioning cables after two
days."
Automated People Mover--Nearly 70% of travelers coming
into DFW are on connecting flights, so moving people
efficiently around the airport is a prime objective.
When DFW was built in 1974, it had a state-of-the-art
people mover, but over the years that system became
outmoded. The new Skylink Automated People Mover (APM)
will start operating in February 2005, and the old people
mover will be demolished.
The new APM is located mostly (80%) on the secure side
of the airport, as is all access--all riders will be
ticketed passengers who have already gone through security.
This means also that most construction took place in
secure areas. Equipment, workers, and materials were
moved onto the site through two primary security access
points. "Due to excellent coordination and communication
with security and airline personnel," says Perfecto
Solis, DFW as sistant vice president for project development,
"this created very few problems."
The first step in building the APM was a $44 million
project to modify the jetways and create a right-of-way
corridor near the gates; nearly 80% of gates were affected.
But construction was not allowed to disrupt airport
operations, so most work had to be done at night. At
about 10:00 p.m. the airlines would move all equipment
out of the way, and the construction crews would move
in; at 5:00 a.m. the contractor would clear out, and
the airport operations would move back in. "At
night it looked like a shipyard," says Soils. |
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