Construction milestone reached for $1B expansion of San Diego International Airport

Components of the $9-million structural concrete construction phase included a 700-foot-long, below-grade baggage-handling tunnel; metal decks covered in poured-in-place concrete; slab-on-grade for the new terminal; and 10 exterior architectural columns––each 56-feet tall and erected at a 14-degree angle.

By Posted by Tim Gregorski, Senior Editor | May 30, 2012

Calif.-based Bomel Construction Co. recently completed the structural concrete phase of the largest construction project ever undertaken at San Diego International Airport.

The $1 billion expansion, called Green Build, consists of a 430,000-sf. terminal building with 10 gates on the west side of Terminal 2 West, a dual-level roadway separating arriving and departing passengers, additional security lanes and an expanded concession area. The design-build project will be completed in the first quarter of 2013, with the new terminal opening soon thereafter.

Green Build, which includes a number of energy-saving and environmentally sensitive measures, is being built to achieve LEED Silver certification from the USGBC.

Construction of the baggage-handling tunnel, which preceded construction of the terminal building above it, was completed in January 2011.

The metal decks and incline column phases of the project were completed in October 2011, while the slab-on-grade for the new building was finished in January 2012. Bomel employed between 25 and 30 workers during the duration of the project.

By the time it’s completed next year, Green Build will have employed between 2,500 and 3,000 construction workers. +

A terminal modernization program can be a complicated and expensive task that airport operators may be hesitant to undertake unless necessitated by demands for increased capacity. This is the first post in our series examining why airport operators should bother to upgrade their facilities, even if capacity isn’t forcing the issue.