The American branch of Canadian consulting engineer WSP has been picked as programme manager and construction manager for a major airfield safety enhancement programme at Tucson International Airport in Arizona.
At $218m, the contract is the largest ever for the 71-year-old Tucson Airport Authority (TAA), and will see the airport get a longer runway, required by new regulations, and rationalised taxiways to clear up collision hot spots.
WSP said it will have to coordinate with many stakeholders, including commercial airlines, the Arizona Air National Guard, general aviation pilots and other airport tenants.
The improvement programme is driven by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Runway Incursion Mitigation Program.
Construction of the multi-phase project is expected to begin by mid-2020, with anticipated completion in 2025.
Work includes demolishing a narrow and short general aviation runway, which will be replaced by a full-length parallel 11R/29L runway to provide redundancy for aircraft.Â
The programme also includes construction of new bypass taxiways and connector taxiways, installation of aircraft guidance systems and modernisation of the airfield geometry to the latest FAA safety standards.
“The programme will eliminate locations on the airport movement area with a history of potential risk of collision, known as hot spots, to mitigate potential runway incursions,” said Joseph Pulicare, president of transportation and infrastructure at WSP USA.Â
WSP is responsible for the overall programme coordination, project controls, FAA flight procedure and navigational aid coordination, and general construction administration of the four construction packages of the programme.
Photograph: Aerial view of Tucson International Airport (Sunnya343/CC BY-SA 3.0)Â https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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