|
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Expansion
Project of the Year: Transportation
The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Expansion Program
(AEP) was the result of a more than 20-year process to address
airfield capacity limitations.
AEP took shape Sept. 30, 1998, when the Federal Aviation Administration
endorsed the airport's plans. The project focus was to build
a third runway, parallel to Lambert's existing two major runways.
Construction broke ground in July 2001 with the goal of completing
the work by late spring 2006 with a budget of $1.1 billion.
The project was completed in April and within the budget.
The AEP was the largest capital improvement project in the history
of St. Louis. In part due to the project's size, officials with
the airport and St. Louis decided to use the project to grow
the design and construction industry in the region.
They contracted with an expansion team of employees and consultants
who were charged with managing the entire project. The airport's
and city's goals to develop the regional design and construction
industry resulted in the AEP being broken into 14 design projects,
16 major construction projects and about 80 demolition projects.
The goal of the expansion team was to coordinate these organizations
and individuals to complete a program the size of which the
St. Louis area had never seen.
Land-Locked Lambert
Like many existing airports, Lambert is land locked, and
the land that the airport was expanding to was predominantly
owned by others.
The 1,500 acres Lambert bought included more than 1,900 residences
and 80 commercial properties.
After the FAA approved the project, the airport began purchasing
parcels.
Construction plans and schedules were drawn up to drive up
land acquisition of the properties needed for the first phases
of construction.
The construction site was larger than Forest Park in St. Louis
and was bordered by residences and commercial operations.
As a result, operations interacted with large numbers of people,
some of whom did not favor the AEP.
The general construction approach was to first relocate several
major roadways so that the runway itself could be built. This
entailed relocating Lindbergh Boulevard and Natural Bridge
Road while they were still being used.
A series of temporary roadway bypasses were built to minimize
inconvenience to the public, used and dismantled.
Adding to the complexity was the need to remove and cap a
utility infrastructure designed for residences and businesses
and replace it with an infrastructure to supply the unique
and exacting needs of an airfield.
The AEP area also included a major utility corridor feeding
much of North St. Louis County, which had to remain intact
24 hours a day, seven days a week through the five-year project.
Because land acquisition proceeded piecemeal to meet residents'
and AEP needs, intricate utility cut-offs were needed to preserve
service to surrounding residents and businesses while allowing
construction to move ahead with building a new utility infrastructure.
Runways are generally flat, but the area in which Lambert's
new runway was built was not flat. Engineers determined that
13.5 million cu. yds. of soil needed to be removed, requiring
an entire storm water runoff plan be developed and executed.
A ridge originally ran perpendicular to the runway alignment
to cut across the site, and a terrain fell off into a valley
to the west of the ridge.
Moreover, the new location of the project was planned to be
soil balanced so that no soil was removed from or brought
to the site; it was moved from one area to another.
As a consequence, cuts of up to 90 ft. were made, while fills
reach 90 ft. in depth. Because of the exacting requirements
for runway safety, the fill area was designed to settle no
more than 1.5 in. over the 30 years following the completion
of construction.
Immense Excavation Work
The massive excavation work was to be executed so the platform
for the runway was created and allowed to settle for 12 months
before the runway itself could be built. This meant excavation
year-round, even in winter.
A couple project elements were unique, including the Lindbergh
Boulevard tunnel, the first traffic tunnel in Missouri. Having
a high-security airfield atop a tunnel added to the design complexity.
The second key project was the runway itself, which was the
first new runway at Lambert in 50 years. Construction of the
runway was carried out immediately adjacent to an active airport,
requiring close coordination and planning.
GPS Used
The program management team and contractors used global positioning system and
total station surveying.
The data collected allowed the program manager to model a variety
of surfaces. Electronics improved production rates and accuracy.
GPS devices were mounted to excavation equipment, and the computers
compared the current vs. the planned grade and controlled the
level of blades and the amount of soil removed from any given
area.
Jury Comments: "This was one heck of a job. This is an amazing
project for a public agency. Other airports could learn from
this project."
Click here for more Best of 2006 Award Winners >>
|
print this page
e-mail this page
