One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
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AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (ABIA) ASCE TEXAS SECTION OUTSTANDING CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT (OCEA) AWARD 2000
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At groundbreaking in November 1994, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was the largest project undertaken by the City of Austin. Well worth it: both for its much-needed expansion of air traffic facilities and for its elimination of the costs associated with maintaining the decommissioned Bergstrom Air Force Base.
Eight miles from the Capitol, Bergstrom Air Force Base was slated for closure in 1990 by order of Congress. This turned out to be an opportunity for the Capital of Texas to meet air travel needs well into the future.
At the time, Bergstrom Air Force Base was still a fully operational military facility. But when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission finally decided to decommission the base, the land was returned to the City of Austin. It was evident it would be ideal for a new airport. In May 1999, Robert Mueller Municipal Airport was closed to commercial passenger traffic and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened to the public on May 23, 1999. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the first to be built under the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was officially off the ground. What might have been an economic blow, not to mention the ongoing problem of caring for an abandoned military facility, had been deftly averted. As Mayor Kirk Watson said at the time, "Austin turned lemons into lemonade."
Adjacent to the city, the site was large enough to meet growing needs, runways and other facilities already existed, and the surrounding area was sparsely populated. City of Austin officials pledged that no tax dollars would be used to build ABIA, and, even though the City of Austin owns the facility, the airport is not supported by the City’s general fund. The people and businesses that use the airport pay the entire ongoing budget. Any revenue generated from the airport goes back into its operations, covering expenses.
It was also helpful that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) offered about 25% of the total conversion cost.
Conversion of the Air Force Base was a $750 million dollar investment and consisted of a 25 gate passenger terminal, a 10,500 space parking facility, a new 9,000 foot concrete runway and parallel taxiway, environmental cleanup of over 480 hazardous material sites left by the Air Force, and recycling of over 350,000 tons of former Air Force base airfield concrete.
Transfer of air traffic from the existing Robert Mueller Municipal Airport to the new facility reduced noise impact on people from 30,000 to less than 2,000 and saved over $50 million in sound insulation costs.
In order to contain costs and minimize environmental impact, engineers were careful in their assessment of which new structures to build and which to keep and modify. For example, an extant 12,250 ft Air Force runway was reused by adding a new lighting system and runway grooving, and constructing a new connecting taxiway -- saving 75% of the cost of building a new one. And the on-site Hilton Austin Airport once served as the base command building.
Additionally, engineers had the challenge of designing and constructing facilities around, through, over, and under functional areas of the airport in order to keep them open during construction.
The facility was designed to have minimal environmental impact by incorporating green building practices such as the reuse and recycling of existing infrastructure, the use of local building materials, and minimal depletion of natural resources in facilities use (e.g. use of a unique thermal storage system to cool the Barbara Jordan Passenger Terminal). In recognition of these efforts, the FAA Southwest Region awarded Austin-Bergstrom their 1997 Environmental Achievement Award.
Only American firms were contracted to build the new airport. Architects included Page Southerland Page (Architect of Record), Gensler (Project Design Architect) and Leigh Fisher Associates. Parsons Brinkerhoff provided airport management expertise, the terminal building was completed by Morganti Group and FMC Jetway Corporation provided 20 new airbridges under a $10.4m contract. The curtain wall installer for the terminal building was Standard Glass and Mirror Inc of Houston, Texas. Curtain walling was a Wasau SuperWall system that incorporated three types of glass in the panels to maximise natural light and also to reduce heat build-up and glare. Aviation planners were TCI-Landrum Brown. The structural engineers were Jaster-Quintanilla, and associated engineers included Burns and McDonnell and Lozano Oritz and Kent.
The airport saw only half a million passengers in its first year, but this figure is misleading. Passenger figures for 2001 showed more than seven million passengers, with more than five million between January and September 2004, an 8% increase on the same period in 2003. The authorities originally envisaged the airport as a point-to-point airport, rather than just a regional hub, underlying Austin's wider ambitions as a city as well as the immediate economic and transport needs.
ABIA has been named one of the best airports in the world according to Airport Service Quality Awards. Among its numerous awards, 2011 marked the fifth consecutive year to earn a ranking in the top five airports in North America and the world for excellence in customer service.
Records:
Owner- City of Austin, Department of Aviation
Project Director- John M. Almond, P.E.
Engineer/Architect- Page, Southerland Page, LLP
Lead Architect - Larry Speck (UT-Austin Architecture professor)
Contractor- Morganti National
FURTHER READING:
About Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) (
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Austin–Bergstrom International Airport History of the Airport (
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Austin–Bergstrom International Airport Environmental Initiatives (
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Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (wikipedia): (
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AirportGuides Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)
History, Facts and Overview (
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airport-technology.com “Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS/KAUS), United States of America” (
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SUNDT (
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Future Improvements (
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