Family Album

D/FW Airport: Expect the Unexpected.
By: Mike McWay

Over the years McCarthy has built a variety of challenging projects at some of the nation's most active airports. Our aviation experience was one of the reasons McCarthy was pre-qualified to bid on portions of the $2.6 billion Capital Development Program at D/FW International Airport, the nation's 3rd largest airport.

In the spring and summer of 2001, Team Texas submitted bids on four projects and was the successful bidder on each one. Since that time McCarthy has been working day and night to construct portions of the superstructure for the airport's new Automated People Mover (APM). The new APM will provide a system of vehicles, stations and guideways to limit the walking distance between airport gates. If anyone has found themselves at one end of a terminal at D/FW knowing that their gate was 40 gates away — with 10 minutes to go to boarding — you know that this airport desperately needs this people mover system.

McCarthy is constructing columns, caps, beams and decks to support APM guideway sections and stations around or in between Terminals A, B, D, E and F. All of these structures are cast-in place — taking full advantage of our concrete pouring expertise. Terminal F is the brand-new International Terminal. If you fly into D/FW you'll notice the construction of this massive structure — it's almost a city — and our work is a very prominent part of it.

Much of the work at D/FW is within the Aircraft Operations Area (AOA), requiring our crews to work amongst arriving and departing airplanes. Because the airport is so busy during the day, much of the work has to be done at night — so every night starting at 9:00 p.m. — we're out there with a 200-person crew working as flights come in and out.

Working in the AOA presents numerous scheduling, safety and coordination issues. In the AOA, airline flight schedules and gate assignments determine which work areas are available to us each day. As a result, delays in arriving and departing flights can significantly impact access to work areas.

The project was further complicated by the tragic events of September 11th. Heightened security measures have also reduced the amount of time we have to work in the AOA. What used to take one hour now takes two because of the increased security restrictions — further complicating an already very tough job.

Additionally, significant design changes on the APM and related projects have been a direct result of September 11th. Changes to the plans occur every day — many of them having to do with adding strength to the structures we are building. We are placing A LOT of rebar these days in Dallas. We have learned to expect the unexpected and try to plan for various work plan scenarios. The projects have been a real test of our team's scheduling capabilities and abilities to improvise. Despite the extraordinarily challenges, all work is scheduled to be complete in spring 2003.