Turner Construction: Sacramento International Airport

Silver in Sacramento┬áConstructing a new, LEED-certified terminal building at Sacramento International Airport is timely, combining necessity with the state of the economy, Frank Barnes reports. Sacramento International Airport, located about ten miles northwest of the city of Sacramento, California, is under the auspices of the Sacramento County Airport System, which is responsible for planning, developing, operating and maintaining it, along with the countyÔÇÖs three other, smaller airports (Executive Airport, Mather Airport and Franklin Field).  Opened in October 1967 as Sacramento Metropolitan Airport to attract national commercial air carriers to the region, it became the first airport on the West Coast to host a Concorde flight, neatly coinciding with the activation of the airportÔÇÖs second runway in 1988. Ten years later it was renamed Sacramento International Airport (though it didnÔÇÖt receive its first international flights until 2002, when Mexicana Airlines initiated nonstop service to Guadalajara) and in October 2006 was officially designated a port of entry, which meant stationing customs officials to oversee the entry and exit of people and goods. Today, Southwest Airlines is the largest carrier at Sacramento International Airport (SIA), with about 50 percent of total passenger traffic; other major commercial airlines include Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, Horizon, JetBlue, Northwest, United Express and US Airways. Encouraged by SIAÔÇÖs growth and an economic impact analysis that demonstrated that the largest of its four airports contributes the lionÔÇÖs share of $3.2 billion per year to the regionÔÇÖs economy (including most of 27,500 direct, indirect and induced jobs), in June 2006 the Sacramento County Airport System approved a $1.3 billion terminal modernization program to replace the aging 216,000-square-foot, 13-gate Terminal B, in order to meet the rising demand for passenger services and to improve the airportÔÇÖs ability to attract new carriers and routes.The actual terminal building itself, Central Terminal B, is divided into two design-build construction contracts totaling $688 million. Turner Construction Company, one of the largest general contractors in the US (with a major international presence as well) was awarded a $286 million contract to build the airside Concourse B, which means the portion of the terminal facing departing and arriving aircraft at the 19 gates, as well as aircraft parking areas and international arrival services areas. Turner has joined Denver-based Flatiron and Sacramento-based Teichert Construction to assist Dallas-based aviation design firm Corgan Associates, Inc. in association with Denver-based Fentress Architects, also experienced in aviation design. Turner leads the construction of the concourse project, which includes the aircraft parking area and taxiways. Founded in 1902 by Henry C. Turner and still based in New York City, Turner Construction provides construction and project management services as a general contractor. The company is the main operating unit of the Turner Corporation, which is a subsidiary of construction group HOCHTIEF. Turner has several major aviation projects in its portfolio, including ChicagoÔÇÖs OÔÇÖHare International Airport and Midway Airport, New YorkÔÇÖs LaGuardia Airport East Wing and JFK International Airport CTA Terminal One parking, the Palm Springs Airport Terminal expansion, the Indianapolis International Airport Program, and terminal buildings for airlines including JetBlueÔÇÖs Terminal 5 at JFK International Airport, US Airways, and Korean Airlines. Turner has also been a major player in Sacramento, constructing high-profile buildings such as the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters, the US Bank Plaza and Renaissance Tower. Flatiron, founded in Denver in 1947, currently operates in western Canada and across the US, with a portfolio of airports, bridges, roads and highways, transit and rail, and infrastructure projects. Teichert Construction Inc. began as a general contractor in the Sacramento region more than 120 years ago and has eight offices throughout California, focusing more on the northern part of the state with infrastructure projects. For the landside, street front, drive-up portion of the terminal, a $401 million contract was awarded to the joint venture of Austin, Texas-based Austin Commercial and Chicago-based Walsh Construction to construct the three-story building that will include check-in counters for departures and the baggage claim area for arrivals. When the expansion program is complete, the airport will seek LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council for fulfilling several categories of eligibility, including the use of recycled materials in building structure, floor and ceiling finishes; extensive use of day-lighting to offset energy use; natural ventilation provided when possible; low-energy glass to minimize heat gain through glazing; and low-flush fixtures used throughout the facility.The terminal modernization program will add 680,000 square feet of new terminal and additional infrastructure, as well as offices for airline support services to the airport, as well as more parking and an automated people mover/conveyor to connect the two terminals. The County Board of Supervisors estimates that the total regional economic impact for the expansion is $2.1 billion and includes at least 2,400 new direct, indirect and induced jobs. The new Central Terminal B itself is slated for completion in 2012. There are also plans in the works for a parking garage and a new airport hotel that currently require funding. The completion of the overall expansion plan for the airport is scheduled for 2014.  ÔÇô Editorial research by Greg Petzold┬á