Keeping San Bernardino Moving: Taxiway Alpha Reconstruction

Summary

A full-depth reconstruction of Taxiway Alpha at San Bernardino International Airport, designed to FAA standards and delivered as a complete bid set. Our team rebuilt the airport's main taxiway, along with parts of Taxiway Echo and A2, so it can carry a heavier future fleet for a 20-year design life.

Technical Approach/Methodology

We approached this like a real consulting job. We started from an existing bid set and the airport's Civil 3D files to understand the site, then rebuilt the design to current FAA standards. The pavement thicknesses were designed in FAARFIELD, the FAA's pavement design software, using the airport's projected aircraft mix and a 20-year design life. Geometry, grading, and safety areas followed the FAA Advisory Circulars, mainly 150/5300-13B for airport design, 150/5320-6G for pavement, and 150/5370-10H for construction. The drawings were built in AutoCAD Civil 3D, the cost estimate in Excel, and the construction schedule in Microsoft Project. We also broke the work into construction phases so that Taxiway Alpha and Taxiway Echo are never closed at the same time, since the runway has to stay operational throughout the project. The design was checked against FAA standards at every step and revised twice with our AECOM advisor before it was finalized.

Outcomes

The main deliverable is a full FAA-compliant bid set, which is the package of drawings and documents a contractor would actually use to build the project. The plan set runs 53 sheets covering demolition, erosion control, pavement typical sections and the paving plan, joint layout, grading and drainage, construction phasing, and pavement markings. Alongside the drawings, we produced a pavement design backed by FAARFIELD structure reports, an engineer's cost estimate of about $9.4 million (roughly $8.18M plus a 15% contingency), and a construction schedule of about 195 working days, or 13 months end to end including closeout and FAA grant documentation. My work on the team focused on the cost estimate, the project schedule, revising the demolition sheets, and cutting and assembling the final drawing set.

Project Media

Project Poster