Granite Expanding, Upgrading Tucson Airport

As youngsters mature through the teenage years into adulthood, they pass slowly through many changes and growing pains. Over the last five years, Tucson Airport (TUS) has navigated some similar growing pains, but Granite Construction has helped ease some of those pains with numerous upgrades.

The airport is managing a rapidly growing number of passengers (with 2.7 million passengers in 2022, up 30 percent over 2021), but it also hosts the Arizona Air National Guard, which has special needs that often differ considerably from a strictly civilian airport.

Currently, TUS is in the midst of the following projects as part of its Airfield Safety Enhancements (ASE) program, which will bring the airport into compliance with current FAA safety standards.

The project — which has been divided into four phases — is being delivered under the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) procurement method by Granite. This includes removal and reconstruction of primary commercial runway as well as inboard and outboard taxiways. The first portion is complete and the second portion is 35 percent complete. The third and fourth portions are anticipated to be awarded to Granite in the coming years.

DBB1 (Design Bid Build) encompasses a new end around taxiway and related improvements. Granite has completed 95 percent of this project; DBB2 and DBB3 will expand the safety area southwest of the new runway and add additional taxiway connectors to the existing runway. Both are yet to be advertised.

Starting in December 2023, Granite’s upcoming work will include the demolition of Runway 11R/29L and the construction of a new parallel runway that is 150 ft. wide and more than 2 mi. long. The old structure had served as a general aviation runway.

Demolition Activities

The nearly completed DBB1 required the demolition of an outdated concrete apron at the northwest end of the airport. Granite connected the Impactor 3000 attachment to a farm tractor, with workers smashing some 103,000 sq. yds. of concrete to make way for the new construction on Taxiways D3, F and G.

Zachary Thompson, area manager of Granite, has worked at the airport for the last two years and supervised much of the DBB1 work.

“Much of the runway apron was built in the 1940s,” he said. “It was well past its useful life. The material was inconsistent: during demolition and haul away, some of concrete panels turned to dust while other sections were still rock hard. Much of the material was given to a third party for potential reuse.”

Throughout the DBB1 work, Granite had to carefully coordinate the construction with active runways.

“This project had seven traffic control phases which required close coordination with airfield operations for aircraft closures during construction,” Thompson said.

DBB1 Major Work

The construction team used approximately 40,000 tons of asphalt to construct the new end around taxiway. The new taxiway will enable airplanes to get from one side of the airport to the other more safely.

One unusual aspect of the work included the construction of a blast wall for use by the Air National Guard.

“This wall helps protect the airfield perimeter road traffic from a jet blast while military aircraft are using the Arm — De-Arm pad —which is itself another pretty unique piece of the project,” said Thompson.

The Granite teams used a P-401 mix, an FAA requirement, for the asphalt section.

“This can be a mix that is often difficult to produce given tight tolerances and even more difficult to place given the high standards required for by FAA specification,” said Thompson. “We have our plant located about five miles from the airport, so we are better able to control overall quality of the final product.”

In addition to the asphalt, Granite supplied 90,000 tons of aggregate base course and an additional 15,000 tons of miscellaneous aggregate for the project.

“Having our Swan facility so close is a real benefit in terms of fuel required for transportation, which translates to real environmental and efficiency benefits,” Thompson said.

Project Challenges

Workers have been careful while working in furnace-like heat. Some shifts begin at 5 a.m. and conclude by 1 p.m. to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Also, the asphalt sections can take longer to cool when the temperatures are above 100 degrees, meaning the workers need more time to complete their work and get the asphalt sections ready for use.

Another challenge to the work was getting trucks with fresh material onsite.

“Working on the secured side of an airport is a significantly different environment than working in on a highway project,” said Thompson. “We needed to get certification badges for our workforce, then our trucks had to be escorted onto the site. Sometimes just three to four trucks would be allowed onto the airfield at one time. This slowed down our production but is a fact of life for working at an airport.”

Granite has been a key player in the airport authority’s vision for the future of the airport.

“We have been helping put new infrastructure in place; it has been one of the biggest projects the airport has taken on in a long time,” Thompson said. “Getting rid of the old general aviation runway and replacing it with a new, modern commercial runway helps bring the airport up to today’s compliance standards.”

Granite has been doing various projects at TUS airport for more than a decade. The company has a role in approximately $300 million worth of projects, including the nearly completed DBB1 end-around taxiway to be used mostly by the Air National Guard. Granite’s work will play a critical role in airport safety as the new facilities will help eliminate possible confusion among the various users of the airport. The facilities are used not just by commercial airlines and the Guard, but also by contractors handling maintenance of airplanes as well as by other aviation support companies. CEG