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| LONE
STARS DFW Airport team managed construction through
post-9/11 design changes. Chairman Jeff Fagan (center)
and executive VP Clay Paslay (second from right) led team
that includes Perfecto Solis (far left), Jim Crites (second
from left) and Andrew Bell (right). |
At Dallas-Fort Worth
International Airport, some engineers proudly refer to the new
2.1-million-sq-ft Terminal D now taking shape as the “crown
jewel” of DFW’s $2.5-billion capital expansion program.
Others say the new $873-million airport transit system is the
necklace that strings it all together. Together, the terminal
and Skylink transit system are expected to improve the experience
of international travelers making domestic connections at DFW.
Terminal D will provide a smooth path for travelers to baggage
screening and customs, and a swift Skylink ride will take them
to the other four terminals.
R. Clay Paslay, DFW executive vice
president, sees the program as a multilayered puzzle whose
last piece is falling into place—the finalization of
the terminal’s $627-million guaranteed maximum price
bid with prime contractor and CM at-risk Austin Commercial,
Dallas. Project officials credit GMP with saving two years
of possible delays from post-9/11 design changes, as the terminal
now moves toward a mid-2005 opening. Flexibility in program
delivery also kept work moving despite the design changes
after attacks. Soft costs were no more than 18% on either
terminal or transit system, officials add.
Airport officials began the project
by buying a $1-billion risk insurance policy and making a
40-hour safety training plan a mandatory part of bid documents.
“We modified training as work progressed,” says
Terry Cassidy, DFW assistant vice president. Training is bilingual,
with construction terms taught in Spanish and English. DFW
also offers rewards for good safety records.
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| CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS Work kept on while airport functioned.
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So far 16 million man-hours have
been recorded with a 0.4 lost-time injury average, compared
to a 3.9 national average. “I’d not heard of such
high-level safety [efforts],” says J. W. Garrett, safety
manager for Hensel-Phelps Construction Co., Greeley, Colo.,
the CM at-risk and general contractor for the Skylink system.
DFW asked HP and Austin Commercial to jointly create a program
“they could both live with,” says Cassidy. “They’re
the ones who know what is needed to run a safe job.”
Fifteen cents of each worker-hour
on the open-shop capital program are donated to a construction
craft training development program in conjunction with local
colleges. Some 2,500 workers have undergone training, says
Cassidy.
That will help them find future
jobs as Skylink nears completion. The project consists of
a $200-million guideway, $200 million in station construction,
a $45-million jetway and $40 million in renovations to existing
stations that serve the current American Airlines people mover,
which Skylink will replace. “We built a bridge structure
over five miles...at the world’s third-busiest airport,”
says Perfecto Solis, DFW assistant vice president of project
development. So important was daily coordination with airlines,
subcontractors and other parties that a 40,000-sq-ft building
was erected just to facilitate meetings, he says.
DFW’s great amount of available
greenfield space enhanced logistics. There is enough room
on site to separate construction traffic, build batch plants,
recycle...
(Photos courtesy of DFW)
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