Engineering Inc. - September/October 2007 - (Page 27) MULTI-PROJECT FEATURE to ensure continued operation,” says Brown. A carefully choreographed program of shifting operations enabled project administrators to maintain a minimum number of operating gates while simultaneously building portions of the new terminal and demolishing portions of the existing facility. In 2005, Kansas City, Mo.based TranSystems, which had been the project’s interior designer, took over as Architect of Record and prime manager of the project responsible for Port Authority inspections, design, construction documents and administration and commissioning. “By the time the company was selected as the Architect of Record, the basic building design was complete and the project was under construction,” says Ken Bower, managing director of corporate real estate for American. TranSystems shared many of the same environmental and operational challenges as DMJM. “The first challenge of the project was environmental,” says Michael Chelednik, TranSystems senior architect and assistant vice president. New York reportedly has some of the most stringent environmental regulations in the nation. TranSystems says it was able to keep the terminal operational by becoming familiar with the airline’s operations and listening to—and working closely with—all of the people involved. “We had to understand that construction was secondary to operations,” Chelednik recalls. Through weekly meetings with airline operations staff, the company was able to keep every member of the construction team apprised of their responsibilities and the potential risks involved. Construction crews build a road around protected wetlands as part of a runway improvement project at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wis. runway PROJECT: saving a run-Down had to be performed, the project had to be designed and a construction management firm had to be selected. Madison’s own Mead & Hunt, Inc., took on the challenge to provide environmental impact studies for the $28 million project, design the final plans and specifications for construction of the necessary improvements and provide overall management and oversight. The environmental assessment began in late 2000 and construction was completed this summer. According to Project Manager Laura Morland, Mead & Hunt’s environmental assessment entailed studying the potential impact of each construction alternative on the airport and surrounding area, which includes a large wetland north of the airport. Upon completion of the fouryear environmental assessment, the team began designing the project, which included engineering a 3,000-foot-long land bridge over neighboring wetlands. Mead & Hunt placed an engineer on-site to monitor Laura Morland Runway safety Area Improvement Project, Dane County Regional Airport, Madison, Wis. FIRM: Mead & Hunt, Inc., Madison, Wis. A fter being dubbed noncompliant by the FAA’s National Runway Safety Area Program in its 2000 Runway Safety Area determination, Runway 14/32 at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, Wis., was in serious trouble. Airpor t administrators needed to find a way to relocate 2.4-miles of rail line, redirect 1.2-miles of nearby creek, realign nearly a mile of a county highway and a portion of the airport’s perimeter road and security fence and complete several land acquisition and release deals. But that’s not all. Before a single change could be made, an environmental assessment construction, coordinate work schedules and ensure that the project adhered to FAA compliance requirements. The continued health of the 2,000-acre Cherokee Marsh was the primary challenge of the project. “It is one of the largest wetlands left in the county, with 340 acres designated as a state natural area,” observes Morland, who says the best way to overcome any obstacle is to begin communication early and maintain constant coordination with participating agencies. In the case of Dane County, those agencies included the state Department of Natural Resources and the regional branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others. Mike Kirchner, the airport’s director of engineering, says Mead & Hunt’s ability to deal with the environmental organizations and agencies was critical to the project’s success. “The team established by Mead & Hunt communicated and worked well together to coordinate ever yone’s efforts from design through implementation.” ENGINEERING INC. sEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2007 27
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