The joint venture of Big-D Construction and Holder Construction were instrumental contractors on this massive $4.1B renovation project that saw the demolition of the old airport and construction of brand new facilities.
The Salt Lake City Department of Airports (SLCDA) marked a major milestone on Oct. 13 with the construction of Phase 2 of the new Salt Lake City Airport when one of the last 3,500-lbs. steel beams was raised to a high point on top of Concourse A-east.
The joint venture of Big-D Construction and Holder Construction were instrumental contractors on this massive $4.1B renovation project that saw the demolition of the old airport and construction of brand new facilities.
Workers lifted the beam 55 ft. to the top of the structure, which will house 22 gates for Delta Airlines. Thus far, crews have used 17,000 cu. yds. of concrete, 4,500 tons of structural steel, 1,300 tons of rebar and 32.6 mi. of steel piles.
Salt Lake City Department of Airports Executive Director Bill Wyatt and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall were on hand to make remarks of the momentous occasion.
"This is my favorite part of any construction activity," Wyatt said in an interview. "All of a sudden something that's been lines on a piece of paper becomes three-dimensional and you can see what it looks like."
Rob Moore, president of Big-D Construction, said in a statement, "The Salt Lake City International Airport is the ‘front door' to Salt Lake City for people traveling to and from the great State of Utah, and we are honored to be involved in such a monumental project — one that will provide numerous opportunities to the local workforce and economy over the next several years."
Project highlights included:
- Doubling the amount of concourse space;
- Constructing 75 aircraft gates;
- Passenger pick-up on level 1;
- Passenger drop-off on level 2;
- Five-level parking garage – 3,600 parking spaces;
- New two-level rental car customer service building;
- Rental car quick turn-around (QTA) facility;
- New central utility plant.
"We sat down and said, ‘well is there something we should do differently with phase two because of reduced traffic?'" said Mike Williams, program director of the Salt Lake City Airport Redevelopment Program. "We figured out how to open the first phase and with supplementing an operation where you park aircraft away from the facility and bus passengers to the concourse. The original phase two was very complicated, involving demolishing some, building some, demo'ing some, building some. Now, instead of taking the airport down in a sequenced manner, we could take it down all at once. It saved about two years in overall construction time."
LEED Gold Certification
The new SLC Airport was designed and built with a number of goals in mind: to build an airport that provides a flexible, right-sized design for the future that is more efficient, sustainable and maintains competitive costs. Additional goals were to build an airport that could withstand a major seismic event, provide more areas to plug in electronic devices and reflect the beauty of Utah — both inside and out. The new SLC has achieved its sustainability goal of LEED Gold certification for both the Terminal Redevelopment Program project and Concourse B-west.
The SLCDA also celebrated one year since opening The new SLC-Phase 1 — with the distinction of being the first new U.S. hub airport built in the 21st Century.
"As two of the largest LEED v2009 gold certified airport terminal projects in the United States, the airport team faced the unique challenge of building on a large scale, while staying on-task and prioritizing health and sustainability," said Lisa Stanley, director of technical services of U.S. Green Building Council. "I know just how daunting this task was and how much pre-planning was required to bring this project to where it is today, and congratulate all those involved."
The airport achieved this certification through efforts involving emission reduction, waste minimization, water conservation and renewable energy implementation. Practicing sustainability began on the first day of construction. Prior to the airport opening, 95 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills and incinerators. Before opening day, airlines began to transition from diesel to electric ground support equipment. And the layout of the new SLC plays a substantial role in sustainability with a linear concourse configuration that reduces the time aircraft idle and taxi.
"The airport recognizes the importance of reducing carbon emissions to mitigate our impact on global climate change," said Wyatt. "The former airport — which was a beloved part of our community — was inefficient when it came to sustainability efforts. Everything from the boiler system to the plumbing and electrical systems were beyond repair. What is really impressive is that the new airport uses less water and less electricity than the former facility." CEG
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