b'AIRFIELDLGA 9 Milestone 1: Constructing Concourse B(the eastern concourse) with 18 gates, a new 3,100-space parking garage and new central heating cooling plant Milestone 2: Constructing the newarrivals and departure hall/headhouseMilestone 3: Phase 1 of Concourse A (the western concourse) with seven new gatesMilestone 4: Phase 2 of Concourse A, which ultimately would have eight new gatesMilestone 5: Opening the western pedestrian bridgeOpening the final two gates in Concourse A and the remainder of the new taxiway following demolition of the old Central Terminal Building were the final crucial elements. Right from the start, the design and construction teams attacked the timetable, trimming more than 18 months from the Port Authoritys original schedule. Working on several key components simultaneously accounted for most of the timesavings. Contractors built the new parking garage, progressed with the roadwork and headhouse construction, and started building the new central heating/refrigeration plant and the East Concourse all at the same time. phases into a five-phase island concourselayout for the terminal aprons, taxiways,Two innovative 420-foot pedestrian design.vehicle service roads, and remain overbridges that connect the headhouse and The WSP-HOK joint venture led thenight (RON) positions using 3-D surfacenew concourses were key to making the new design in concert with Vantagemodeling for taxiway/taxiway grading andcompressed schedule a reality. Construction Airport Group and Skanska-Walsh.horizontal geometry design, alignments,was able to progress beneath those bridges LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the privatepavement markings, and drainage. Thearound the concourse while demolition and entity that redeveloped Terminal B, isisland concourses allowed us to maximizeconstruction continued.composed of Vantage Airport Group,on available space during the multi-phase construction while maintainingMore Flexible TaxiingSkanska, Meridiam and JLC Infrastructurethe existing fingerA faster build time wasnt the only impetusfor development and equity investment. system for Terminal Bfor the new airside layout. It also helps LaGuardia Gateway Partners holds a 35- active, says Amandaalleviate the congestion that created delays year lease to manage the new 1.3 million- DeCesare with WSP,and safety issues. square-foot terminal. engineer of recordPreviously, aircraft would often sit on The evolution from finger to islandfor the airside andthe tarmac for 30 minutes after boarding concourses really came out of askingutilities components.passengers due to traffic jams of aircraft How do we do this better, how do weThe island conceptAMANDA DeCESARE trying to make their way out of the dead build it faster, and can we do it lessallowed the team toends within the finger layout. Switching to an expensively than what was proposed?significantly simplify delivery of the projectisland design allowed for taxiways that go all explains Thielmann. To answer thoseand complete it in less time by breakingthe way around the concourses, so aircraft questions, WSP performed engineeringdown the huge undertaking to five keypushing back from any gate can go in either analyses and developed the geometricmilestones:direction. This gets them to a runway more AirportImprovement.comOctober 2022'