Engineering plans change at Anchorage airport due to Sept. 11: safety is of the utmost concern, and AMC Engineers is designing with that measure in mind.

• Author: Caballero, Christy

Imagine a horse race. The finish line is in sight, the pace is fast and furious, and you can smell victory. Then everything comes to a screeching halt. The track gets redesigned, the horses and riders have to put on armor to finish the race, and before they can get it buckled on, the "when will you finish?" questions are flying around.

Sound frustrating? Well, try being an engineer on the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport project, when life as you know it is assaulted by terrorism. The shadow of Sept. 11, 2001, fell across America's soul, and as the shaken nation cried "this can never happen again," the shadow also fell across a lot of blueprints.

DOLLARS, DOLLARS

With initial estimated construction costs approaching $350 million, this was a big racehorse to rein in (construction costs for the C Terminal of the project were actually around $150 million).

A new terminal will stand in place of the former C Concourse, and the existing domestic terminal will be renovated and reconfigured. By mid-2004, the domestic terminal will be more than double its present size, reaching 790,000 square feet-made up of approximately 350,000 square feet of existing and remodeled space, and 440,000 square feet of new space.

There will be 23 gates and 20 regional parking positions. Curbside length for drop off and pick up will be doubled. The bag claim and ticket lobby areas will nearly double in size, and there will be increased long-term and short-term parking spaces.

AMC Engineers is the mechanical and electrical design consulting firm for the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport project.

"This is a massive project," said Dave Adams, principal electrical engineer, and principal in charge of the project for AMC.

OBSTACLES IN THE PATH

"Obviously construction in portions of the building was brought to a stop waiting for everything to be resolved," Adams said. "That put the design team under an extreme amount of pressure. Meanwhile the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) could not give the airport or the architect/engineer clear direction on security changes, but the completion date remained critical."

The Transportation Security Administration is a federal agency whose duties include operating the security checkpoints and setting new security and operational policy at U.S. airports.

Hurried design changes tried to hit a moving target-and meet criteria the TSA was still setting.

"It was a very chaotic process. TSA was in control, but not...