Baltimore-Washington International Airport continues to move a record number of passengers, but travelers there might encounter something else moving in abundance these days: dirt. Three million cubic yards of it.
Maryland's international airport is in the midst of a $136 million growth spurt. Workers are creating a 16-gate pier, a seven-plane de-icing pad and a site that will become a terminal for cargo planes.
And it's all being done while more than 40,000 passengers fly in and out of BWI every day. Airport officials promise those passengers will come and go as usual, and that the construction will be no more troublesome than a picture in the window. But pulling it off can create logistical quandaries nearly as complex as the engineering ones.
That dirt is a big source of the complications. To grade a new taxiway for the cargo terminal along BWI's longest runway, workers need dirt, and the only place to get it is on the other side of the runway. That means periodic runway closings so that trucks can dash back and forth.
But closing one of BWI's three jet runways is a bit more complicated than closing, say, a highway or a driveway.
"Closing down a runway is a big deal," says Michael West, BWI's associate administrator for planning and engineering.
Notice to the pilots has to be published in advance. Wind direction must be monitored, because airplanes prefer to land and take off into the wind, and the big runway is the only one running east and west. Rain or fog can change the plans, because BWI's longest runway is also its best-equipped runway for instrument-guided flying.
Even if the runway is closed and the dirt is moved, workers must spend hours sweeping and clearing the pavement of rocks or soil when they're finished. Rocks kicked up by landing gear can be dangerous; rocks sucked into a jet engine can be deadly.
"We try not to close runways often," said West. "It's restricted to certain hours, there has to be notice published to airmen, it has to be coordinated with air-traffic controllers."
Runway closings aren't the only difficulty, however. Work inside the BWI terminal has required occasional gate closings and rerouting of passengers.
Eventually, several airlines will move to different piers inside the airport. Airport officials promise that the construction won't affect travel schedules or access inside the terminal, and it hasn't.
