Flying Like an Eagle

Albuquerque Preps Airports for Economic Growth

By Scott Blair

With the infrastructure improvements to both Double Eagle II Airport and Albuquerque Sunport, the city hopes to provide the economic engine for burgeoning new industries to take flight.

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Hoping to provide the spark for economic development on the west side of Albuquerque, the city is well underway on its infrastructure development project at Double Eagle II Airport. The general aviation facility, located 10 mi west of Albuquerque near Petroglyph National Monument, was originally constructed in 1982 and has undergone gradual improvements ever since.

However, since 2002 the development has hit overdrive as the city began infrastructure improvements such as the $10 million project to bring water and sewer lines to the airport, which was completed in 2005.

"The goal of the city is to use Double Eagle for an employment center and economic development engine for the west side," says Jim Hinde, planning manager for the city of Albuquerque aviation department. "Right now almost all the west-siders commute to Albuquerque for work and it creates some real problems traffic-wise. So we're trying to get a reverse commute going."

The anchor project to the infrastructure improvements is the Eclipse Aviation facility for the Albuquerque-based airplane manufacturer. During the project completed in 2005, 24-in. water transmission lines were installed at the airport's Aerospace Technology Park, a 300-acre site which will eventually house Eclipse and other high-tech aerospace manufacturers. In addition, a 2.16 million gal storage reservoir, 8.3 mi of transmission lines and two new pumping stations were installed, along with sewer service and six mi of fiber-optic cabling.

Eclipse will eventually occupy 150 acres of the park, with their first facility, a 49,000 sq ft training building, already underway. Albuquerque-based general contractor Reid and Associates is constructing the structure and site improvements, slated for completion this summer.

"We are now designing the infrastructure distribution within the rest of the aerospace technology park," Hinde says. Estimates peg the water, sewer, power, fiber-optic, gas and roadway project within the park at $12 million.

"The initial phase completion date is this summer, and that's a $4 to 5 million piece that hasn't been put out to bid yet," Hinde adds.

The city retained Molzen-Corbin and Associates, an Albuquerque-based engineering and architectural firm, in 2001 under a seven-year contract to provide engineering and planning for all of the airport's infrastructure development work.

"One of the issues that has come up in the Albuquerque area is how long it takes to get a development plan through the permitting process," says Mike Provine, vice president with Molzen-Corbin. "So the city council came up with what they call 'certified sites', where the property is building-permit ready."
Molzen-Corbin developed design guidelines that a company buying or leasing property on the site could conform to in order to avoid the usual environmental, site-planning and sub-division processes. They range from building guidelines to landscaping guidelines to even sidewalk widths, Provine says.

"For companies that are doing national site searches for new facilities, it's a fairly huge and aggressive economic development incentive to be able to use," Hinde says. "We're just trying to stay ahead of the competition."

The program is already bearing fruit, with the announcement at press time of Lawrenceville, Ga.-based manufacturer Utilicraft Aerospace Industries' new $4.8 million aircraft testing and office facility. Construction is scheduled to start this month, according to the Albuquerque office of general contractor Flintco Inc. The project includes a 270- by 150-ft wide clear-span metal building encompassing 40,500 sq ft, and a 15,000 sq ft attached office building.

"We look forward to this being the first project of many as we continue to expand our assembly operations at Double Eagle II Airport over the next few years," says Utilicraft president and CEO John Dupont.

Another essential component of any growing airport is a modern control tower, which until recently Double Eagle II lacked. This was rectified by the construction of an 86-ft tall pre-cast concrete tower, designed by the Albuquerque office of architectural firm ASCG Inc. with lead engineering by Molzen-Corbin. Local firm Jaynes Corporation was the general contractor on the $2.8 million shell, which was completed in November. The equipment installation package was scheduled to bid last month. >>

One unique aspect of the new tower is that the cab which rests atop the concrete structure is recycled from an old air traffic control tower at Albuquerque's main passenger airport, the Sunport. Originally two levels, the top half of the cab was salvaged and installed with new glazing. "Fitting that on to a new structure presented some challenges," Provine says. "For the connection between the old frame and new structure, the cab itself was not symmetrical. It was a pentagon with one leg actually longer than the others.

Our structural engineer, [Albuquerque-based] Boyle Engineering, had also worked on the demolition of the old cab, so they were pretty familiar with it."

While all control towers are required to go through a detailed siting study in accordance with FAA rules, the airport also had to consider its neighbor to the east, Petroglyph National Monument. "The monument isn't just a cultural resource with the petroglyphs, but also with the volcanoes that are part of the monument too, which are significant to [local Native-American] tribe's religious activities and ceremonies," Provine says. "We met with the park service on how the tower fit into the viewscape." The tower's concrete features a green, olive tint to it to blend in better with the surroundings.

Other activity at the airport includes a 65-acre Midfield Development project providing infrastructure for future hangars. The first phase, including earthwork and utilities, was completed in 2005 at $1.8 million. The $1.7 million phase two, including paved aprons and taxi-lanes, is currently underway with Albuquerque-based general contractor Mountain States Constructors.

A $13 million reconstruction to the 6.5-mi access road from nearby Interstate 40 is also planned for construction later this year, and Kansas City-based Coffman Associates is preparing an environmental assessment for future runway extensions to accommodate business jets.

At the Sunport, work is proceeding on a $12 million apron reconstruction project. Local general contractor David Montoya Contracting is replacing the 91,000 sq yds of original apron with 16 in. of high flexural strength concrete.

"A lot of the concrete is from the original Sunport which was constructed in the mid-1960's, and suffers from alkaline silica reactivity, a phenomenon unfortunately prevalent in concretes in the city of Albuquerque," Hinde says.

"The alkali in the cement reacts to the silica in the aggregate and causes expansion, which eventually fractures and degrades it, causing it to fail."

As part of the city's overall sustainability program, the existing terminal building and all future airport structures will be designed to achieve a minimum of LEED-silver certification, according to Hinde. ASCG is the prime consultant on the terminal optimization program which will upgrade and expand the Sunport's terminal, reconfigure and optimize space, and replace and upgrade existing environmental control, electrical and mechanical systems towards achieving sustainability goals.



Key Players

Owner: City of Albuquerque
Lead Engineering Consultant (DEII): Molzen-Corbin and Associates
Design/Engineering: ASCG Inc.; Coffman Associates; Boyle Engineering
General Contractors: Mountain States Constructors; Jaynes Corporation; David Montoya Contracting; Chaparral Electrical Contractors