Sacramento Airport builds a $140M Pedestrian Walkway to replace overcrowded train system. Featuring sky bridges and public art, the project will enhance passenger experience. Completion expected in spring 2026, part of $1.3B SMForward Program.
Photo courtesy of Sacramento County Department of Airport
An overview of the construction site at Sacramento International Airport.
The Sacramento International Airport had a problem.
The existing train-style Automated People Mover had reached its upper limit for passenger capacity and, worsening the situation, the trains were reaching the upper edge of their lifespan.
But to replace the train cars, the airport would need to shut down the people mover, and there would be no way to get travelers from the terminal building to the concourse.
Photo courtesy of Sacramento County Department of Airport
The solution? A $140 million Pedestrian Walkway featuring two sky bridges and a hub along with $2.5 million in public art.
Balfour Beatty construction crews broke ground on the walkway in August 2024 with anticipated completion in the spring of 2026.
"It is effectively a walkway connecting Terminal B to Concourse B via a skybridge with moving sidewalks, escalators and elevators along a panoramic corridor," said Ed Cox, senior engineer and architect with the Sacramento County. "It is providing an alternative route to take people from one area of the airport to the other in an elevated, conditioned floor area walkway which has three portions to it. The South walkway is elevated to line up with the third level of the terminal building, about 45 feet up from the ground to the floor.
"There's a building that's midway, called the Hub Building, which basically is the opportunity for us to bring people from that upper level down to the concourse level, which is about 15 feet above ground. So, we have a drop of about 30 feet, and that's accomplished with escalators, stairs and elevators."
The airport has broken passenger records monthly, ending fiscal 2024 with 13.2 million passengers served. The Pedestrian Walkway is one of seven projects in the $1.3 billion SMForward Program that has been in the "culmination of years of planning and creativity," said Cindy Nichol, the director of the Sacramento County Department of Airports.
One of the biggest challenges of the project is the location, Cox said.
"It's no small task that we're involved with because we're building a structure that is right up against these two buildings, and there's a lot of underground utilities that we're trying to resolve. It was a challenge in itself just to find out where we're going to put the support columns so that we could provide support for the structure and not have major problems with utility relocation," he said. "We're relocating the things that we actually have to relocate, but then we also have made it so that we try to minimize the amount of that that has to happen."
Another challenge is putting in piling that reaches about 60 ft. deep. Because the trains have sensors for earthquakes that will shut the train down, crews can't drive the pilings. They must drill them.
"Right now, the work going on as we speak is to do test piles," Cox said. "There's a big crane and a drilling rig, and they're drilling down and making holes, dealing with concrete and taking samples so we know the strength of the concrete. What will be happening over the next four to five months is a lot of this kind of work. And once we get out of the ground, things will start really coming together much faster. But it is a long process of scraping around in the ground and trying to avoid utilities and dealing with surprises."
Photo courtesy of Sacramento County Department of Airport
The project is on a "fast track process," Cox said. That is, even as construction is under way, parts of the project are still being designed. While it may sound a bit risky, staff members have given themselves plenty of time to get the work done and are on schedule, he said, noting that the biggest challenge in the design work is ensuring all involved get a chance to be heard.
"We have people who are working in our office area for the airport; we have our facility people; we have security folks; everybody has their own perspective, and we want to make sure that everybody gets a chance to be involved with that. So, we're taking extra time to make sure that we have all that going on."
Once the pedestrian walkway is completed, Cox expects the airport to decommission the existing people mover, which will likely present new challenges.
"The big question that we don't know the answer to is what do we do with the structure that's there? I think in the long term if we don't come up with anything, we'll tear it down. But it is a lot of concrete to take out. So, it's not a small item to just say, Tear it down." CEG
Lori Tobias
Lori Tobias is a journalist of more years than she cares to count, most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian and previously as a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.
Read more from Lori Tobias here.
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