Judges' Award-Construction - International Terminal D

Submitted by: DFW Airport
Location: DFW Airport

Logistically, International Terminal D was essentially landlocked within DFW Airport property. And it was virtually a Greenfield site.

The site is adjoined by an operating airfield on the north and west, an airport public service road on the east that was ultimately rerouted and reconstructed, and an operating DFW Airport parking lot on the south. That meant that a multiphased plan for many project logistical requirements had to be developed.

Beginning with the 2 million-cu.-yd. site excavation and ending with project punch-list completion, logistical planning played an enormous role in Terminal D's success.
A newly constructed roadway was required to provide access to the Terminal D site for workers, site administration and material deliveries. The new Skylink automated people-mover system was structurally integrated into Terminal D.

The main theater section is wrapped in red sandstone, taking a cue from the walls of nearby Palo Duro Canyon. The three-level wing running the length of the center's north side is clad in yellow brick that also reflects the local natural palette, and contains administrative offices, dressing rooms and staging areas. And there's a two-story, acoustically isolated rehearsal room that serves as a children's education center and mechanical and electrical equipment on its third floor.

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DFW originally awarded the Skylink construction separately to another contractor, but the decision to have Austin Commercial perform all Skylink structural construction within the Terminal D footprint eased coordination and sequencing burdens upfront.

The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, slightly more than a year after the start of construction of Terminal D, brought new obstacles for the project, which had progressed well toward the completion of the mass excavation and site demolition phase prior to the attacks. And, construction of foundations, which covered a 650,000-sq.-ft. area and the seven-level superstructure, had built momentum.

But the uncertainty of the airline industry immediately threw doubt into the project's viability. Scenarios for potential project shutdown and cancellation were developed.

Although the construction progress was stymied, it did not stop. The general contractor continued with the existing structural design and its prescribed installation through January 2002, when new federal design criteria began being issued.

Terminal D's structure was then re-evaluated. The initial 10,000 tons of steel originally required increased to 12,500 tons. Initial reviews resulted in areas of the current structure being put on hold pending further design criteria evolvement and the subsequent redesign.

The previous schedule momentum and sequence plan were no longer applicable. A short-term, rolling schedule, which assigned and sequenced work areas that were not on hold, was utilized to keep construction crews productive and onsite.

The 650,000-sq.-ft. foundation footprint and Terminal D's seven levels became a day-to-day planning task and challenge.

Throughout 2002, Terminal D's superstructure took on a new, stouter signature. A 2-ft.-thick concrete blast wall was added. It ran the length of the terminal's service level.

Structural-steel roof trusses increased in weight and size and had to be redrawn and, in some cases, refabricated. Even with the redesign and refabrication, the pre-Sept. 11 schedule milestone for the setting of the first roof trusses was met in September 2002.

As new designs were issued for areas of Terminal D's structure not yet built, designs to retrofit areas already constructed were also being generated. Changes and additions included adding steel jackets to wrap already installed concrete columns, full-length steel angles at the tops of walls and steel bollards on landside roadways to keep vehicles from driving into the terminal.

Day-by-day resequencing evolved into week-by-week planning. The hands-on approach minimized the impact of the almost year-long setback in design, and there was only a 60-day push on the construction schedule's end date.
Another temporary delay due to Sept. 11 was the onsite implosion of the existing Hyatt Hotel West Tower. The implosion was part of the site demolition to accommodate the site plan for Terminal D.

The explosives to be utilized for the implosion were en route to DFW Airport on Sept. 11, but the specially permitted load was turned around and the implosion was delayed. After much review, coordination and education, the implosion took place Oct. 7, 2001.

Opportunities for innovative approaches to construction and the associated processes were numerous during the five-year duration of the program.

From the conceptual planning stage when the terminal grew from 1 million sq. ft. to 2 million sq. ft., to the challenges of Sept. 11 and the opening of Terminal D in July, innovation was the rule, not the exception.

Access logistics in the heart of the site took hours of analysis and sequencing planning sessions. Tower-crane size and placement along with mobile-crane supplementation resulted in the use of 13 tower cranes over the program's duration.

Each tower crane's location, size and utilized duration was planned to minimize the need for mobile-support cranes and was coordinated with DFW Airport and the FAA so as not to interfere with airport operations.

Final structural construction phases for the terminal, parking garage and terminal roadways were one of the most critical logistical coordination challenges of the project. Two structural bays were left out of the terminal until after the parking garage was in place.