The placement of the second of two pedestrian bridges 60 ft above an active airfield last month marked the final piece of significant construction for the new $5.1-billion Terminal B at LaGuardia International Airport. Demolition of the old terminal is now underway as the largest U.S. aviation project under a public-private partnership stays on track for an on-time completion late this year.

The 482-ft-long western pedestrian bridge and the 440-ft-long eastern bridge, both 2,500 tons, are the first of their kind and opened up two miles of new taxiway space, says Jane Garvey, former Federal Aviation Administration leader and currently chair of Meridiam. The firm—along with Vantage, Skanska and JLC Infrastructure—comprises LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the development and equity investment team. Skanska Walsh is the design-build joint venture. HOK and WSP led design.

纽约和新泽西州港口管理局执行董事里克·科顿（Rick Cotton）说，“岛”大厅设计使机场的增加成为可能。他说：“新航站楼比旧的码头大约600英尺。”“大门在中央大厅周围360度。乘客越过从出发大厅到岛上的大厅的天道桥梁，反之亦然。门口的任何飞机总是有两种进入或离开的方法之一。如果飞机阻止了滑行道的一部分，则[停放的飞机]可以朝另一个方向进入大门，因为大厅是圆形的。这大大减少了大门的延迟。”

Two pedestrian bridges soar over taxiways.
Photo courtesy LGP

Crews built the departure hall section of the 1.3-million-sq-ft terminal using a temporary 33-ft-high, 200,000-sq-ft steel “dance floor” that increased safety for workers on the ground, says Bryant M. Farland, regional executive officer with Skanska USA Building Inc. “We suspended a floor from the ceiling 10 feet below to perform all the overhead work—from drywall to lighting and mechanical work,” he says. “The dance floor then allowed us to work at the ceiling without introducing multiple [pieces of lifting equipment].” That was one of the safety-related measures that enabled 17 million people-hours worked without any major incidents.

Regarding the pandemic, the “postage-stamp” footprint of LaGuardia never changed, so crews didn’t have the silver-lining advantage of extra space due to shutdowns, Farland notes. “We were on the frontline of figuring out how you can operate during a pandemic. We were on the bleeding edge of temperature checks and constantly relooking at protocols.”

设计构建团队必须在终端建造过程中维护33个活跃的大门，其中包括151英里的光纤电缆。Farland说：“我们认为这是该国在商业机场任何地方的被动网络中最大的运行。”

The main structural steel elements of the two skybridges were factory assembled to ensure proper fit and geometry and delivered to the site. “Once we confirmed that everything worked—design camber, width, length—all truss sections were surveyed and then final erection and release of the camber occurred over several months,” says Farland. “The various truss elements were defined in tight segments and set on all these pre-engineered shoring towers to replicate exactly the factory assembly.”

Farland说，2018年的东部桥梁有一个舞台区域的围裙，但西部桥没有。“这是一种即时的交货方法和24小时的操作。”

The project team coordinated nearly 30 separate 3D design models and used 360° photography and laser scanning to limit clashes, changes and guesswork. Once the project got under way, material and production tracking recorded field productivity, enabling the project team to stay ahead of potential schedule conflicts. The team had to coordinate around-the-clock deliveries and installation of massive structural steel elements totaling nearly 40,000 tons. Cranes were precisely positioned to prevent them from obstructing air traffic controllers’ line-of-sight of the airfield.

Cotton说，工作人员已经开始拆除现有的B终端B，并将完成8英里的道路，20个桥梁和美化环境。他补充说，所有最大的里程碑是“完成新乘客设施的每平方英寸”。“这意味着每位到达或离开的乘客都将使用新的大门，仅通过21世纪的新设施，并且只体验到明亮的自然光线，公共艺术，优惠和最先进的检查 -在设施中。处理能力比旧终端大于50％以上。”

An adjacent $4-billion new terminal for Delta Air Lines also is well on its way to completion, with “a major opening of the arrivals/departures hall this spring,” says Cotton. “With that, the final pieces of roadway will also fall into place. We’ll be tearing down all old facilities in the next few months.”
The concessionaire will operate the terminal through 2050.

Photo courtesy LGP

Innovative Delivery

Garvey says that innovative project delivery proved beneficial from the start, with the design-build team able to scale down an original construction schedule of seven phases to five.

“港口认为P3模型将为项目带来其他私营部门的专业知识和创新，“ 她说。

The complexity of the Terminal B project, the encroachment of a bond cap and the need to fund other projects made P3 an appropriate model.

Regarding the sharing of risk, “the concessionaire and contractor assumed the construction and financial risk, while the Port addressed the early environmental issues and was a full partner throughout the project,” Garvey says.

Vantage将利用其Laguardia P3的经验来领导肯尼迪千年合作伙伴，该合作伙伴将在约翰·肯尼迪国际机场为JetBlue开发39亿美元，120万平方英尺的航站楼。根据Vantage的说法，新航站楼的建设计划于今年晚些时候开始，第一个大门将于2025年开放。

Garvey concurs that P3 potential is ripe for future airport facilities. “I also see real potential on the surface side—transit in particular.”