Sunport Takes Flight

New Passenger Screening Area Lands in Albuquerque

The $14 million project is to move passenger inspection out of the airport's Great Hall, allowing it to return its original function of supporting stores and restaurants. The addition will provide 35,000 sq. ft. of new floor space and increase the number of security lanes from five to eight.

The new, larger passenger screening area to be completed early next year at the Albuquerque Sunport will be supported by 3-ft.-diameter, abutting concrete piers, each set 70 ft. vertically into the ground.

"It was a substantial effort," said Rick Tavelli, project manager for Bradbury Stamm of Albuquerque. The construction job on the pillars required 8,000 cu. yds. of concrete and 550 tons of steel.

Future plans include excavating the dirt enclosed by the pillars, arranged in a U-shape, to form a two-tier baggage inspection area beneath the passenger screening area.

No timetable for the baggage rooms has been set, but the piles are already a reality, Travelli said.

The pilings were designed by Newport Beach, Calif.-based Boye Engineering, which has maintained an office in Albuquerque since 1984. Boye structural engineer Robert Hawthorne said the pilings were constructed by pouring one hole, skipping the next two, pouring the fourth and so on.

After these dried, cement was poured for the second and fifth. Approximately 218 piles were poured in this manner, Hawthorne added.

A delay occurred when a large auger drilling a corner hole broke off in the earth and workers couldn't remove it, said URS Corporation civil engineer Michelle Anderson. URS, an engineering firm based in San Francisco, Calif., is designing and overseeing the entire project from its Albuquerque office.

"We drilled holes adjacent to it, got a heavy-duty crane and pulled straight up, but we couldn't budge it," Tavelli said.

The construction team decided to leave the auger in the ground.

URS project manager Rick Tietgens said, "[Our analysis shows] the augur has not compromised the strength of the structure in any way."

And Hawthorne added: "Our best guess, is that we hit some old wiring buried years ago [and the augur screwed in and wrapped itself up]."

Because the pile in question was in a corner and structurally well-supported, he agreed that the buried augur poses no danger.

The baggage rooms have not yet been bid or even approved, but they should be in the works, said consulting architect David Hassard, a principal with Albuquerque-based SMPC Architects. He said the overall plan is the result of consultations by project overseer URS with city and airport officials.

"This is the first project on a terminal optimization plan by URS to balance all airport components for maximum efficiency," Hassard added. "Instead of continual ad hoc airport construction, the URS master plan balances the size of the ticketing area with the number of flights, gates, screening areas, baggage carousels, even the number and size of restrooms."

The immediate purpose of the $14 million project is to move passenger inspection out of the airport's Great Hall, allowing it to return its original function of supporting stores and restaurants.

The addition will provide 35,000 sq. ft. of new floor space farther south. Eight lanes should be available instead of the current five to more swiftly move passengers through security.

"There'll be more room for people to stand around if there's a security breach," Hawthorne said. He added that the probability of inadvertent breaches will be lessened by a new revolving door system that allows for greater security and helps decrease the need for guards.

The doors will feature sensors that prevent passengers from coming back around and returning inside the secure area. Lunchrooms and interrogation facilities are included for Transportation Security Administration employees.

Aesthetically, the addition will match the existing structure, said architect Hassard. "We're trying to maintain the Southwest vernacular of the original airport by using similar materials and finishes," he added. "Emulating the existing aesthetic" includes a pueblo-like stepping of massive-appearing tan walls, brick flooring and ceilings built of wood slats, he said.

Tiles, provided by Kolle Tile of Albuquerque, will form a basket-weave brick floor design, with square and rectangular bricks at right angles to each other.

The job, with its extensive digging at the center of a busy airport, has had other challenges, Tavelli said. "Fortunately, the project manager for the airport [Dennis Parker] did an excellent job of educating us to what's different [from building on the street] and accommodating us when necessary," he added.

Anything that could become airborne and sucked into an airplane engine, Tavelli said, "would be a tremendously expensive mistake."

The airport manager made available a large parking lot outside the secured area and worked with contractors to keep them out of the way of airplanes.

"That was a pretty good trick, since we were dead center where the airplanes were," Tavelli said.

Meanwhile, the wettest winter in New Mexico history "cost us a day or two," Tavelli said. "Water flowed into our excavation. Then we had issues with [obtaining] steel and then concrete."

The company also had trouble with one subcontractor, Tavilli said. He added that one difficulty inherent in the current bid system is that even if a general knows a sub is bidding too low or is unreliable, there's no way to ignore that bid because a competing general contractor who takes the low bid will win the contract.

Despite these challenges, the project is only a month delayed. Expected completion date for the addition is in February.

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