High Flying

Three New Projects at Burgeoning Buffalo Airport

An expanded runway, taxiway improvements, sound mitigation projects, and a new baggage-handling facility are all in the works at Buffalo Niagara airport in a bid to meet a growing passenger load.

by Natalie Keith

As passenger counts continue to rise at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Buffalo, N.Y., its operator is embarking on three projects aimed at addressing the growth and mitigating the airport's impact on the neighborhood.

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority is responding to unexpectedly robust growth since 1996, when the airport had 3 million passengers. The airport may serve 5 million passengers this year, a number the facility previously was not expected to reach until 2020, said William Vanecek, the authority's director of aviation.

"We felt the time was right to plan for the future growth of the airport," he added.

The three projects tackle different aspects of the airport's operations. They are:

• a $36 million project to improve the main runway and Taxiway A

• a $54 million noise-mitigation program

• and a $22.5 million, two-story, 60,000-sq.-ft. addition on the airfield side of the terminal for a baggage-handling facility.

The project that is furthest along is the runway work, which has involved resurfacing the entire length of the main runway and Taxiway A and extending the northeast end of the runway by 725 ft., resulting in a total runway length of 8,827 ft. The runway now has 1,000 ft. of safety area at each end, bringing it into compliance with Federal Aviation Administration standards.

The project - funded 75 percent by the FAA, 12.5 percent by the New York State Department of Transportation, and 12.5 percent by the Niagara Frontier authority - also involved rehabilitation of three overpass structures that allow the runway to bridge airport roads.

By late summer, the runway was reopened to airplanes and most of the taxiway project had been completed. Final tasks were being completed this fall.

For the resurfacing effort, project crews managed by DiPizio Construction of Cheektowaga, N.Y., the general contractor, milled down 4 in. and then replaced it with a 4-in. asphalt overlay. The grading effort was a big component, said Russell Stoll, the authority's director of engineering.

"The project required a lot of earthwork and fill work to bring the land up to grade to support the resurfacing," he added.

The team used 600,000 cu. yd. of fill, said Paul Kowalski, resident engineer with DiDonato Associates of Buffalo, the project's architect.

When the main runway was taken out of service, it forced a modification of flight patterns and resulted in extensive air traffic over communities not accustomed to coping with the noise, which generated strong complaints.

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The team addressed the concerns by shortening the timetable for the runway work - originally scheduled to start April 1 and end Oct. 1 - by instead starting March 6 and finishing on Aug. 1, shaving a month off of the schedule. The earlier start also took advantage of the colder March weather, during which most residents have their windows closed, said Mark Clark Sr., the Niagara Authority's aviation planner.

Starting construction a month early altered certain project approaches. During March, the ground was wet and soft, requiring the contractor to use a granular material for the embankment work at the north end of the runway, Vanecek said. The change actually allowed better compaction of the fill, which reduced the potential for differential settlement of the material and increased the useful life of the runway.

The airport's $54 million noise mitigation program aims to benefit the residents who live along the facility's permanent flight patterns. The program is just getting under way, using funding from the FAA and state and local governments, and is expected to run through 2016.

The project first required FAA approval of a Part 150 Noise Study of its plan to use both remedial and land-use strategies. The remedial strategies include a sound-insulation program for approximately 1,740 houses, two schools, and a church, nearly all of which are located off the ends of the main runway.

The authority selected C&S Engineers of Syracuse as program manager from a request for qualifications for the job. C&S is setting up a schedule prioritized to start on houses with the highest noise levels.

The program aims to mitigate about 175 to 200 houses per year with measures that include adding insulation, drywall, solid doors, double pane windows, and new or upgraded HVAC systems.

Another element of the program will provide residents outside of the eligible mitigation zone with information on how to add soundproofing features to their houses. The airport is constructing a model home with its standard mitigation modifications and will make a consultant available to discuss installation techniques, Clark said.

"We're going to do some outreach to address that issue," he added.

Finally, the baggage handling facility is set to begin construction early next year. The $22.5 million, 60,000-sq.-ft. addition on the airfield side of the complex will be the third major expansion of a new terminal building that opened in 1997.

The new facility will address space constraints in the existing 31,000-sq.-ft. baggage-sorting area that arose because of the addition of new security equipment in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The rising passenger counts also are driving the need for the new facility.

The current space allows federal Transportation Security Administration workers to process 750 bags per hour, but the new system would let them process 2,700 bags per hour.

The authority was sorting through responses to a request for proposals this fall and expected to select a contractor by January. The project is expected to wrap up in spring 2008.

"We're doing the project on a design-build basis to speed up the process," Vanecek said.

Key Players

Owner: Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, N.Y.

Developer: Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Buffalo

Runway Architect-Designer: DiDonato Associates, Buffalo

Runway Contractor: DiPizio Construction, Cheektowaga, N.Y.

Noise Mitigation Program Manager: C&S Engineers, Syracuse