Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Concourse D

Teamwork Takes Off

At just 60 feet wide, Concourse D is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport’s narrowest. It was designed for regional planes of the 1980s, but today’s larger jets make the concourse uncomfortably crowded. Work is underway to expand Concourse D to increase capacity and greatly improve the passenger experience.

An ingenious system that uses modular construction and careful phasing will minimize disruption. A series of 25-foot-wide modules will be built on a nearby site and moved by night to abut the east side of the concourse. Then work will make a “U-turn” to add a five-foot extension to the boarding level on the concourse’s west side. This will be built in sections that extend over the existing structure and connect to the modules opposite. Finally, the old roof will be dismantled, interiors finished and temporary walls removed section-by-section. This method assures that only eight gates need to be taken out of service at a time.

Our structural designers worked seamlessly with our construction engineers, who were hired by steel fabricator LeJeune to provide Advanced Project Delivery™ (APD) services. The teams collaborated to deliver a fully connected 3D model from which the fabricator could produce shop drawings and digital information for fabrication equipment.

Building the modules off-site and moving them adds extra considerations to the structural design and detailing. Says Swapnil Deshpande, an associate principal and our APD lead, “We had to think about temporary forces and bracing at the assembly site, as well as the configuration and permanent forces after installation. The connections had to work for both.”

An important tool for managing these intricacies is a weekly “rally call” that “brings us all together for proactive coordination,” says Mary Williams, vice president and structural project manager. “We can resolve questions on the fly and head off problems in the field.”