Airfield Pavement Design and Construction of Terminal 3 Modernization at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

Abstract: The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) is consistently ranked as one of the thirty large hub airports in the United States. In 2023, Phoenix Sky Harbor served 48 million passengers and was ranked by the Wall Street Journal for the best airport among top 20 largest airports in the U.S. when rated against 15 categories (e.g., wait times for security screening and taxi-to-takeoff, Wi-Fi speed, and restaurant reviews etc.). The $540 million Terminal 3 modernization program was designed and constructed in three major phases to transform the original 1978 building to a state-of-the-art facility for increased capacity of passenger processing. The five-year modernization program was concluded in 2020 adding 1.9 million square feet of terminal space and a new 15-gate concourse.

In Phase Two of the Terminal 3 Modernization project, 182,000 square yards of airfield Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavement including apron, taxilane, and connecting taxiway were added. The airfield pavement was designed to accommodate various Airplane Design Groups (ADGs) including ADG V aircraft such as Airbus 330-300. Other pertinent design components of Phase Two included roadway frontage, drainage improvements, new and/or relocated utilities (e.g., domestic water line, firewater line, sanitary sewer, storm drainage etc.), a new hydrant fueling system, and a new primary electrical feed for Arizona Public Service Co from Jackson Street Station to Terminal 3.

This presentation includes the design and construction challenges for the PHX Terminal 3 pavements as concrete paving was conducted primarily at night to avoid daytime traffic and heat. Key design and construction elements covered in this presentation include: 1) essential project background; 2) available geotechnical information for pavement design; 3) pavement design inputs and design traffic; 4) mixture design of FAA P-501 Portland Cement Concrete; 5) Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR) analysis and re-use of demolished PCC pavement; and 6) construction photos of airside improvements.