Two new pedestrian bridges at San Diego International Airport were installed in a single, overnight operation two weekends ago by the Kiewit/Sundt joint venture – a major feat that took mere hours to perform after several months of planning and coordination. The structural steel bridges, each weighing slightly less than 100 tons, were built and assembled on grade in an alternate location on the jobsite – rather than in place – and then installed using a specialized dolly and 350-ton crane. The team’s innovative approach meant that the main terminal roadway was only closed over one night, rather than the several weeks that would have been required by a more traditional build-in-place approach.
“Our whole goal was to minimize the road closure and therefore the impact to the airport operations,” said Brad Kirsch, the Sundt project manager who planned and supervised the placement of the two bridges. “After closing the main terminal roadway and putting a detour in place, a subcontractor that specializes in moving historic homes hauled the assembled bridges down the roadway on a heavy duty dolly system to a location adjacent to their final location. Then our steel erector used the 350-ton crane to lift and set the bridges in place, each with just one pick of the crane. In the weeks prior, we modeled the full operation using Building Information Modeling to ensure success. Multiple picks would have been easier to plan, but it would have taken longer.”
The operation began at 10:30 on a Friday night and the first bridge was in place by 1:30 a.m. The roadway underneath it was re-opened by 4:00 a.m. The second bridge was in place by 5:30 a.m. and the roadway was fully re-opened by 7:00 that Saturday morning.
The Kiewit/Sundt joint venture is performing a major part of the $1 billion airport construction project that is expanding the west end of San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 2. The team is constructing the “land side” portion of the project, which includes construction of the dual-level roadway, two check-in curb pavilions, parking improvements, a new building for the USO San Diego and parking management office, and the two new pedestrian bridges. The entire project, known as “The Green Build,” is expected to earn LEED Silver certification when it is complete in early 2013.