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From
your friends at ATCMonitor.com. © 2006 - Reproduction without
permission is prohibited.
On May 27th, 1937,
one of the world's most magnificent structures, and an engineering
masterpiece, opened for business. That structure was the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco, California, which was designed to accommodate
millions of travelers per year. On May 27th, 2006, nearly 70 years later,
yet another great engineering masterpiece
is opening to accommodate the traveling public. That is the new runway
completion at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.
Atlanta's new runway, better known as
"The fifth runway" is a $1.28 billion dollar slab of concrete,
which was considered one of the most labor intense projects in the state
of Georgia. Although it took nearly a decade from its first conception to
be finished, designers were faced with many obstacles along the way to
completion. Some of the hurdles along the way were determining the runway
placement due to the position of the existing 3,750-acre, landlocked
airport which is surrounded by interstate highways that surround the area.
Other challenges such as land preparation were also considered
due to the need for extra landfill.
In order to even begin building the new runway itself, construction
companies had to design a conveyor belt
system that was five miles in length to
import more than 27 million cubic yards of landfill to the site. In order
to do that and keep on schedule dirt had to arrive on the airport
construction site at a rate of 7,000 tons of dirt per hour every day. By
the time all was said and done, the new construction site had enough dirt
to have filled the Georgia dome, which is the height of a 27-story
building, more than seven times over.
It is apparent that
Atlanta is setting the standard for other metropolitan airports for years
to come, by making efforts to improve the processing of the traveling
public instead of hindering it.
This site has already set many world
records including having the worlds longest runway bridge and the
construction of Georgia's first ever runway tunnel. In fact, the runway
bridge construction has remained to be one of the most interesting aspects
of the runway's construction due to the fact that it spans overtop of
interstate 285. While the bridge will span across 10 lanes of traffic, it
was designed such that future expansion of up to nearly 18 lanes is
possible. The fifth runway was
constructed so that two-thirds of the runway pavement will be located on
the west side of the interstate and the remainder
across the highway on the east side. This
$159 million dollar 400 foot linear bridge structure was built to link the
east and west side sections of the runway together.
The tunnel underneath the bridge allows
more than 135,000 vehicles per day to pass safely underneath arrival and
departure traffic on the runway. While most aircraft will touch down
before they cross the bridged section, some smaller aircraft are likely to
make contact with the ground directly on top of the road tunnel,
therefore landing directly above the
interstate traffic. Travelers may be concerned about safety, but don't
waste the brain power, because this structure was built to withstand a
weight greater than 1.3 million pounds, which is greater than the weight
of an Airbus A380; the heaviest commercial airliner in production.
So what is the purpose of building such a magnificent structure? It
certainly wasn't to make inquiries to the Guinness book, but rather to
make improvements to the airports infamous delays and meet the needs of
increasing demand for air travelers. In fact, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) predicts that more than 90 million passengers will
pass through the gates of the Atlanta airport in 2006, which equates to
more travelers in a single year at one given airport than of any other
airport in the history of commercial
aviation. However, that's no big surprise since Atlanta is considered the
busiest airport in the world. The fact that a new runway is on board and
opening for operation will help meet these demands by an overwhelming 30
percent increase in allowable arrivals and departures. In order to
accommodate such a demand, the City of Atlanta has taken on a 10 year $6
billion dollar expansion plan known as the Hartsfield Development Program
(HDP) to enable the airport to meet the forecasted demands of nearly 121
million passengers per year, which will supposedly occur by the year 2015.
The plan not only includes a new runway, but also a full line of
accessories to give each and every passenger the most efficient means of
navigating to and from the destinations. Airport delays and congestion has
been and continues to be a major problem at many airports throughout the
United States and Atlanta is no exception. The biggest reason that delays
occur are due to the mass congestion that is imposed on aircraft during
arrival and departure. In fact, it's not just a problem for the traveling
public, but also for the airport financial market. For example, if 25
percent of the traffic arriving and departing Atlanta experiences a delay,
the costs imposed on the airport exceed $1 million dollars a day.
The runway itself is but one element of
the overall $6 billion dollar expansion plan. In fact, in order to fully
accommodate the operations to be held on the new runway, other structures
had to be in place for safe operations. Recently a brand new air traffic
control tower was erected in order to allow air traffic controllers to
have viewable clearance to see the operations that will take place on the
new runway. This tower stands nearly 400 feet tall, which coincidently is
the tallest air traffic control tower on the North American Continent.
Although the new runway will accommodate more traffic, it still imposes
concerns that due to its position from the arrival gates, passengers will
still incur some delay due to the long taxi ride from the fifth runway to
the gate. But Atlanta managers are already focused on the solution to that
by the design and construction of a new terminal to accommodate arrivals
and departures from the new runway as well as a proposed
"end around" taxiway, the first of its kind, which will
allow aircraft to taxi around other runways instead of being delayed while
waiting to cross them. This new construction of the fifth runways
terminal, a new Consolidated
Rental Agency Complex
(CONRAC)
and new international terminal are planned to be connected via monorail
providing a nearly effortless customer experience. In addition to the
structural enhancements, more appealing cosmetic upgrades to the facility
will be completed by early 2007. These cosmetic changes include columns
that are more aesthetically satisfying, better lighting and chairs that
are more comfortable in the terminals. Furthermore, the airport recently
launched "Wi-Fi", a wireless network that will allow travelers
to connect laptop computers and other wireless devices to the Internet
from anywhere in the airport. With this new service, nearly all of the 6
million square feet of the airport will become one gigantic hot spot for
internet surfers.
Atlanta's new fifth runway has been termed "the most important runway
in America" and for good reason. Since the Atlanta International
airport is the busiest airport in the world it's easy to see why such a
project would need to be completed. In fact, Atlanta Hartsfield will join
Chicago O'Hare, Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth as the only airports in the
United States where three jetliners are able to land
simultaneously. To celebrate the opening of the new runway, Delta flew
more than 200 national and local dignitaries onboard the first departure
and arrival on Runway 10-28 using the Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, which was
labeled appropriately for the occasion, with a tail number of 1028.
Delta uses the 767 on nearly all international flights, suggesting the
importance of the new fifth runway in Delta's pursuit to offer customers
service to more worldwide destinations than any other carrier. For more
than 65 years Delta has called Atlanta home and with the new runway
opening, Atlanta airport has already become more attractive to domestic
carriers such as Spirit Airlines and Pan Am Clipper Connection, which now
offer flights from Hartsfield-Jackson.
Although the new additions of the fifth runway and accommodating taxiway
are currently in the completion phase of construction, the airport itself
and the personnel in charge of these expansions are conducting concept
development studies for further development and other airport
improvements. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson international airport is a leader
in many facets of the aviation industry. In fact, it has been suggested
that when delays and congestion arise at Atlanta, a ripple effect occurs
that causes delays across the country. Therefore it is apparent that
Atlanta is setting the standard for other metropolitan airports for years
to come by making efforts to improve the processing of the traveling
public instead of hindering it. This alone sets apart the global leader
that Atlanta International has become. These improvements and enhancements
will not only enhance the customer experience but open the floodgates for
further business opportunities and economic growth for the community and
city of Atlanta. The fifth runway is a victory for all.
Learn
more about Atlanta's 5th runway at Atlanta-Airport.com
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Atlanta's completed 5th runway 10/28 looking to the east |
Part of the conveyor system which moved 27 million cubic yards of
dirt |
Bridge construction over I-285 |
Bridge close to completion |
Atlanta's completed 5th runway 10/28 looking to the north |
Rendering of the CONRAC facility. |
Rendering of the monorail system to connect CONRAC to the main
terminal |
Atlanta's new FAA Control Tower |
Delta flight 1028 the first commercial flight to land on 10/28,
May 2006. |
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