b'38 ABE SECURITY facility and think about what we might need to have in place ifconnector project encountered supply chain issues that forced were dealing with some other pathogen in the future. drastic shifts in strategy. Key elements like the smart glass and It gets back to the idea of creating a stress-free environment,exterior metal panels that were part of the terminal connectors he adds. Even today, people are still moving through our facilityshell were on backorder for months.with masks on. Providing high-level protection through the air wasWe kept moving by switching gearsdoing what we could on a way to future-proof whatever might be coming down the road. the inside and building our way out, recalls Tom Cook, project On the sustainability front, electrochromic insulated glassconstruction manager with Arora Engineers, which oversaw the provided by Halio will automatically tint to help block excessiveconstruction teams. We were shifting gears like crazy to find ways solar heat and reduce glare. Sheward notes that his architecturalto move forward. If you look at projects today, many of them are design firm doesnt pick up a pencil without thinking about howfour to six months later than scheduled. This team turned in a a move will affect a buildings environmental impact. You wanttremendous effort, and we were able to stay on schedule.buildings to sip energy, not gulp it, he remarks.On the positive side, construction of the elevated connector For Stoudt and other ABE leaders, designing and outfitting theoccurred without major disruptions to existing airport operations. new security checkpoint/terminal connector was about improvingConstruction at an airport is always like open-heart surgery in the passenger experience as well as safety. One of the things wewhich the patient is running a marathon every day, Stoudt muses. hear about from our frequent fliers is they appreciate the ease,You have to be concerned with how it synchs with operations. convenience and low stress that is created here that doesnt existThats another reason tearing apart the tunnel wouldnt have at nearby large hub airports, he reports.worked. It would have been too disruptive.He expects TSA checkpoint timesa main metric that will Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges measure the projects successto drop dramatically. (With Like most construction projects that were underway duringconstruction scheduled to wrap up in July, no throughput statistics and immediately after the COVID-19 outbreak, ABEs terminalwere available for this article.) ai168477050816_ACI-NA-Halfpage-JUN-2023.pdf 1 5/22/23 8:48 AMCMYCMMYCYCMYKSeptember 2023AirportImprovement.com'