February 2013
O'Hare Runway 10C-Center Project: The Final Link
Walsh Construction's Runway 10C-Center project at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport represents the last link to the completion and opening of Runway 10C-28C in the South Airfield.
This project ties the east end and west end contracts, which were successfully completed in the 2009 and 2010 construction seasons, and is scheduled to be complete and commissioned by October 17, 2013. An early turnover of the runway to the CDA & FAA for flight checks and navigational aid (NAVAIDs) calibration will occur by June 30, 2013.
This ambitious milestone will be accomplished by the coordination and commitment of the Walsh / Terrell JV, TJ Lambrecht (our third partner in the tri-venture), our numerous subcontractors, and the OMP (O'Hare Modernization Program) to put in place $165,000,000 of work. (Between 7/1/11 and 6/30/13 we put in place $8.8M per month.)
Project rephrasing was required to accommodate the original Contract interim completion milestones, as conflicts between adjacent work areas and maintaining active service roads and cargo taxi lanes were realized once construction commenced. Various work zones were required to complete earlier than anticipated by the original design, and work areas were transferred amongst the five (5) Contract Phases to accomplish the final goal. These contract changes were negotiated with airline and OMP representatives, which eventually led to the restaging of cargo aircraft traffic to aprons via alternate routes.
Acceleration in the fourth quarter of 2012 was also necessitated to gain time on the Schedule and to realize the benefit of the work area rephrasing negotiated through the summer of 2012. This acceleration (in the form of an OMP Field Order) commenced in early October with the start of lime stabilized subgrade operations, and continued through asphalt base course paving and subsequent 18” PCC concrete slip-form paving. Over 127,000 CY (254,000 SY) of 18” PCC pavement and over 194,000 tons of asphalt pavement were placed during this period along. Accelerated work was reviewed daily and again weekly with the OMP, and it continued through mid-December, including winter protection as necessitated by overnight temperatures.
Project safety was not compromised during this acceleration, as the noteworthy safety indexes realized improvement through this three month period for the JV. Over 70,000 MH’s were expended by the JV, and another 30,000 MH’s by TJL and our major subcontractors, including Aldridge Electric, K-Five Construction, in the fourth quarter without a recordable incident. The JV’s indexes shrank from two previous incidents in 2012 to 1.4 / 0.7 / 1.4 by the end of the year. Additional safety and liability comparisons of Walsh Construction against other past and current O’Hare contractors is displayed below.