MIAMI CONNECTION After uncertain period, traffic is returning to and around airport. (Photo courtesy of Michael Goodman for ENR)

...1.25-million-sq-ft building, says Loren Smith, program director for a joint venture of Pasadena, Calif.-based Parsons and Coral Gables, Fla.-based Odebrecht Construction Inc., the construction manager-at-risk with a $658-million contract. It includes a new 300,000-sq-ft concourse with 15 gates and renovation of an existing concourse. Hensel Phelps, Greeley, Co., holds a $73-million contract for various new concourse work and a $169-million contract on the terminal.

Gilbert Southern Corp., Peachtree, Ga., has a $46-million subcontract for fuel systems, 300,000 sq yd of parking apron, 3,500 linear ft of noisewall, 9,000 ft of drainage and 8,500 sq yd of filling in an existing canal-after relocating manatees, says Jack Renton, the Miami-based national aviation director for Edwards & Kelcey, the civil designer.

The terminal's curtain wall system is a composition of aluminum and steel stainless panels, glass panels and granite, measuring 10 ft wide, 30 ft high and weighing 3,000 lbs. The panels had to pass rigorous tests for hurricane resistance to pass muster with tightened building codes.

(Rendering courtesy of Communikatz)

The heaviest steel columns weigh 380 lb per lineal ft and rise 60 ft. Architectural exposed steel trusses span up to 140 ft. The project received a scare when steel supplier Havens Steel Co, Kansas City, filed for bankruptcy in March. It was a victim of the national steel pricing crisis, but has recovered somewhat. Only 2,000 of 18,000 tons of steel remain to be delivered, says Smith.

The Miami office of Turner Construction Co. has begun installing augered piles 50 ft deep in the first $1.3-million, five-year phase of the $2-billion Miami Intermodal Center connecting to the airport, says Ric Katz, MIC spokesman. The complex will link heavy rail, rapid transit, buses, private vehicles and parking. The Florida Dept. of Transportation will spend about $290.7 million in access roadways for the MIC in this phase.

A $223-million, 3.9-million-sq-ft consolidated car rental facility with a ready/return garage will encompass three MIC levels, subdivided among companies. A customer facility lobby will sit atop the garage area, 50 ft high, connecting to an elevated line carrying people movers 1.5 miles to and from the airport.

Area roadwork will continue in the future. The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority plans to build ramps from the airport to State Route 112 and reconstruct SR 836 with an airport connection. Each job will cost about $200 million and will start in 2007 and 2008, respectively.