After months of silence while it negotiated project issues with airlines and residents, the City of Philadelphia announced on June 4 that a team led by CH2M HILL Cos. will be program manager for a major expansion of Philadelphia International Airport. The estimated $6.4-billion capacity-enhancement program (CEP) would be the largest such aviation expansion in the U.S., says CH2M HILL. Negotiations are continuing with the facility’s key occupants over core elements of the expansion program, and costs could grow as the project’s scope is better defined.
Chosen to lead the expansion is Global Program Partners, a joint venture in which Denver-based CH2M HILL has a 54 percent stake. Partners are design firm Delon Hampton & Associates, Washington, D.C.; and construction inspection firm CMTS Inc., Dallas. Both are minority-owned and have a 23 percent stake, says Jhan Schmitz, CH2M HILL senior vice president and program director. He confirms that the team will be paid $25 million in the program’s first 4 years.
CH2M HILL describes the planned program as one of the most complex in the U.S., with construction occurring amid normal airport operations. It is anticipated to take 12 to 15 years to complete, says CH2M HILL. Schmitz, who has run large airport programs in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia, says the airport, some of which dates to the 1940s, “is a hodgepodge of elements. We will set standards that make sense.” Schmitz says the
$6.4-billion figure is a 2010 number in the master plan and is likely to change. But he says, “The airlines are not against the program. It’s a classic clash between airlines and an airport.” Schmitz says master-plan modifications are under way.