Interim airport fills gap in service
Faced with the difficult task of keeping the aging T.F. Green State Airport terminal operable while building a newer airport on the existing site, officials at the Rholde Island Airport Corp., Bristol, Conn., charted an unusual but effective plan that would accomplish both goals — using an interim modular terminal.
The current terminal at T.F. Green State Airport, which serves the greater Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut area, is slated to be decommissioned and shut down in Spring 1995. However, the new terminal is not scheduled for completion until late 1996, leaving a gap in service.
Airport officials solved the problem by erecting interim modular gates, stretching about three football fields in length, in front of the existing terminal. The airport’s interim gates and terminal were up and functioning after only seven months.
The new terminal will incorporate two levels of operation, with a single, double-loaded passenger concourse, according to airport officials.
Departing passenger services, such as ticket counters, baggage check-in, departure lounges and concession facilities will occupy the second level. Arriving passenger services — baggage claim, car rentals, etc. — will fill the lower level. Built during the early ’60s, the old terminal was designed for propeller-powered aircraft.
Over the years, it was modified to handle jets, but despite that, it was unable to accommodate the increasing numbers of passengers and aircraft arrivals and departures. Arthur Building Systems, Bristol, Conn., provided the 56 modules that make up the 35,856-square-foot facility. The total cost of the interim project was about $6 million. The modular facility was designed to be easily dismantled and reused, and with 12-ft.-by-60-ft. building sections that are all concrete and steel construction, it can easily be reconfigured. Because the building is type 2-C, non-combustible construction, it meets all building codes (BOCA) and fire codes (NFPA), including independent third-party approvals.
“When you hear ‘modular building,’ you automatically think ‘trailer’ and ‘no way,'” says Paul Healy, manager of public safety at TFG. “But this is more than adequate. In fact, it’s a real big improvement over the existing terminal.” Modular construction allows for the site preparation and the new building work to proceed simultaneously, because the building is manufactured off-site.
In traditional construction, workers have to prepare the site, survey and level the ground, demolish existing buildings or bring them up to current code standards before any new construction can begin.
Employing the modular construction process, the contract designers and engineers analyze and break down the final approved design into component parts, or three-dimensional sections.
These 3-D building blocks are then manufactured and shipped to their intended point of use. There they are assembled to form the final, completed building.
In the modular construction process, the site work may be completed only hours before the modules arrive on site.
Once started, it only takes a matter of days to erect the complete building. And, because the interior of the building is completed at the factory as well, it is 80 percent to 85 percent complete and ready to occupy when assembled on site.
