Light-Rail and Aviation Projects Moving Forward

Collin County Airport plans new tower. Also, Houston, Dallas move on light-rail projects.

Collin County Regional Airport Starts New Flight Control Tower

The Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney will break ground this month on a new flight control tower that is part of a $71-million capital improvement program. ( Photo: Courtesy McKinney Airport Development Corp.)

Construction starts this month on a new flight control tower as part of a $71-million capital improvement program that began in 2002 to improve infrastructure needs at the Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney.

The CCRA plans to break ground this month on the new tower. At press time, the contract for the project had not been awarded.

The general aviation airport opened 30 years ago, and now has more than 20,000 visitors arriving at the airport each year. It caters to private aviation with a niche for accommodating upscale business aircraft.

“We are the only business-class airport in Collin County,” Ken Wiegand, executive director for the McKinney Airport Development Corp., told Texas Construction. “Because of the number of corporate headquarters and the fact that Collin County is one of the richest counties in the state, we know the demand will grow.”

The CCRA started with a 4,000-ft runway and now has a 7,000-ft runway. As part of a master plan, about 100 acres of land to add to the airport were purchased. Three new taxilanes will be planed on that land.

“While a runway is like an interstate highway, a taxiway is like the access road and taxilanes are like avenues and streets to get to places,” Wiegand says.

While the runway and taxiways meet federal standards, Wiegand says airport officials believe they are too close together to support large aircraft.

“We planned and got funding to make improvements. We will have a replacement runway that will take the place of the runway we just rehabilitated. It is a three-year project with a $57-million price tag,” Wiegand said.

It marks the largest single aviation project Texas Department of Transportation has ever initiated, he adds. The city and its funding agencies put up $7 million to make the runway wider than federal government requirements. Doing so now will save money down the road, he says. The runway will be able to accommodate larger aircraft when completed in 2012.

“We believe the new runway will attract a lot of attention from the community and operators,” he says. “It will meet the commercial standard of being 150-ft wide, 7,000-ft long as well as a 1,000-ft extension in the future, at least.”

About two years ago, the airport finished a $6-million rehabilitation “white-topping” project.

“We found that over time the larger aircrafts operating off our runway were deteriorating the surface pretty badly,” Wiegand says. “We put 13 in. of concrete over a repaired asphalt runway and what we have today is a modern runway that can handle a Boeing 737.”

He says that doing the overlay “saved millions of dollars in reconstruction” because there is no need to “go back in and tear out the runway and completely rebuild from scratch. The project also came in under budget and on time.”

White-topping has only been done to one other general aviation airport in Texas to date, he adds.

Houston Light Rail Project Selects JV Team for $121 Million Project

The Houston Rapid Transit Joint Venture team recently received a notice to proceed valued at approximately $121 million from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County for early portions of the expansion of the existing light rail transit system in Houston.

HRT was awarded the $1.28-billion design-build contract earlier this year. Led by Houston-based Parsons Transportation Group Inc., HRT includes Granite Construction Co. of Lewisville, Kiewit Texas Construction LP of Fort Worth and Stacy and Witbeck Inc. of Alameda, Calif. The team is responsible for expanding the existing light-rail-transit system in four new corridors totaling an additional 20 mi of light-rail transit.

The work includes 32 stations, storage and inspection facilities and a major renovation to the existing operations center. Three of the new corridors will be located in and adjacent to downtown Houston and one will be located in the Galleria area.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit Awards Blue Line Extension Contracts

As part of a design-build team, Dallas-based Parsons Brinckerhoff was awarded a contract to provide engineering design services for an extension of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Blue Line light-rail transit system.

The contract is with Dallas-based Austin Bridge & Road LP, which has been selected by DART to be the design-builder for the project. PB will serve as the lead engineering firm, providing civil, trackwork, structural, architectural, geotechnical, traffic and certain systems engineering design services.

The project runs from the existing downtown Dallas Garland LRT station to a new downtown Rowlett LRT station. It will consist of 4.5 mi of double-track LRT along the existing DART right-of-way that parallels the Dallas Garland and Northeastern Railroad freight tracks.

Portions of the alignment will be elevated over rail, cross streets and waterways. The Rowlett LRT station site will be designed to accommodate an at-grade platform and park-and-ride facility with 800 parking spaces. A bus transfer facility within the site will include multiple bus bays.

Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with service starting December 2012.

EPA Announces $179 Mil in ARRA Funds for Wastewater Infrastructure

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded more than $179 million to the Texas Water Development Board. The new infusion of money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is designed to help state and local governments finance overdue improvements to wastewater projects essential to protecting public health and the environment.

The funds will go to the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund program provides low-interest loans for water-quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control and watershed and estuary management.

EPA Awards $6.8 Million to City, POH to Reduce Diesel Emissions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $5.8 million to a combination of clean diesel projects by the city of Houston and the Port of Houston Authority. The clean-diesel projects are designed to create jobs while protecting the Houston area’s air quality. The EPA also awarded $1 million to the VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio to upgrade its bus fleet.

The Port of Houston Authority will receive a total of $3.5 million for projects that will promote the use of advanced emission reduction and energy efficient technologies as well as replacement of cargo handling equipment and the repowering of the Sam Houston marine vessel. Both projects are part of the port’s Clean Air Strategy Plan.

The city of Houston will receive $2.4 million for its project to remove some of the city’s oldest, and highest polluting, vehicles and equipment from various departments and replace them with newer and cleaner-running vehicles.

The VIA Metropolitan Transit project will involve replacing the engines in 83 transit buses with lower-emitting engines.

URS to Manage Love Field $1-Billion Capital Development Program

San Francisco-based URS Corp. was awarded a contract by the city of Dallas to manage its Capital Development Program at Dallas Love Field Airport in Dallas.

URS will assist the city of Dallas’ Department of Aviation in managing a variety of design and construction projects worth approximately $1 billion. The contract has a term of two years with two, two-year extensions.

The projects include the modernization of the Dallas Love Field terminal building complex and possibly the construction of an Automated People Mover system between the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Love Field transit station and the Love Field terminal building. The program also will include improvements to the airfield.

Fluor, Global Industries to Pursue Offshore Projects

Irving-based Fluor Corp.’s Fluor Offshore Solutions joined forces recently on an exclusive basis with Global Industries Ltd., an offshore construction firm, to pursue offshore oil and gas projects in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The consortium will leverage the combined strengths of Fluor Offshore Solutions and Global Industries in engineering, project management, procurement, construction, management, transportation and installation and commissioning services for offshore oil and gas projects.

PHA Commission Approves Fiber Optics Security Upgrade

The Port Commission of The Port of Houston Authority recently approved a professional services contract for $577,000 to Fort Worth-based S&B Infrastructure Ltd. for the installation of communications cable and hardware to connect security equipment at the Turning Basin and Woodhouse terminals to the Port Coordination Center. The project will be funded in part by a federal grant.

Commissioners also approved awarding a construction contract to Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc. for the Bayport Terminal Administration Building for $8 million and for the Bayport Terminal Maintenance and Repair Building for $14 million. To achieve cost savings, the port authority offered contractors the opportunity to submit proposals for building both structures. The award takes advantage of discounted pricing as a result.

Commissioners approved authorizing an additional payment of up to $5.7 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for FY2009 cost-shared expenses for construction in and along the Houston Ship Channel.

Additionally, the commission approved a $98,230 change order to Houston-based Forde Construction Co. Inc. for concrete replacement project at Wharf Nos. 23, 26 and 29 and Lower Level Road at the Turning Basin Terminal. These wharves were extremely busy at the time the project was planned and carried out. As a result, the port authority offered an incentive amount of $90,000 to the contractor, if the work was completed in up to 30 days. The contractor successfully met this requirement, to the benefit of the port authority.

EPA Provides $31 Million for Water Infrastructure Projects in Oklahoma

In a move to improve aging water infrastructure and protect health and the environment for the state of Oklahoma, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded more than $31 million to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

The funds will go to the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program. The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program provides low-interest loans for drinking water systems to finance infrastructure improvements. The program emphasizes providing funds to small and disadvantaged communities and to programs that encourage pollution prevention as a tool for ensuring safe drinking water.