DIA Officials Taking Cautious Approach to Construction

While passenger growth at Denver International Airport continues its record pace, officials at the 10-year-old airport are still on a wait-and-see approach when it comes to construction.

With 60 percent of DIA passengers flying on bankrupt airlines, caution is the order of the day, said Mike Steffens, assistant deputy manager of aviation for construction.

"We'd like to keep building things and making them better," Steffens said. "But if we're missing a major partner tomorrow that's going to have a big impact on everything."

Steffens' remarks were made as part of "DEN at Ten," a presentation he made to the Construction Management Association of America's Colorado chapter last Friday - the same day DIA officials announced that January set a 14th-consecutive monthly record for passenger traffic.

In 2004, 42.4 million passengers traveled through the Jeppesen Terminal's three modules, designed to accommodate an annual load of 50 million passengers.

"We'll be hitting 50 [million] in the next two or three years, and we can have six modules at full build-out," Steffens said.

The airport has no definite plans at the moment for expanding the concourses, adding new runways - it currently has six but can handle 12 - or building an airport hotel.

"There's no schedule really [for building the hotel]," Steffens said. "We want to see if we can get it down to a cost that's more palatable to our accountants."

Two projects worth approximately $10 million that were recently open for bids have been postponed - reroofing Concourses B and C to replace the brittle, first-generation material that creates the airport's distinctive tented look.

"As long as we don't get hit with a hailstorm, we're OK," said Steffens. "But one of these days we'll see [the projects] back on the street."

A couple of projects are either set to begin or under bid review. They include the Whiskey Alpha De-Icing Pad, a $29 million project awarded to Interstate Highway Construction Inc. that's set to start in six weeks and Pikes Peak Parking Expansion Phase II, estimated to cost between $6.25 to $7 million and scheduled to begin in two months.

The contract for the 2005 Miscellaneous Roadway and Parking Lot Improvements 2005, budgeted between $2.5 to $3.5 million, is still open for bid.

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In Other CMAA News

The Colorado chapter of the Construction Management Association of America will host the national 2005 spring conference - "Creating Collaborative Teams" - May 23-24 at the Grand Hyatt Denver.

Conference highlights include:

• A golf outing at Arrowhead Golf Club and tour of the Denver Art Museum expansion project.
• Six education sessions on topics like "Evolving CM in the Future of LEED Certification" and "Claims Management Services."
• A keynote presentation by Bill Van Wagenen Jr. CCM, of CH2M Hill, who has worked on such high-profile projects as the English Channel Tunnel and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. He'll discuss public works projects in Iraq.
• And a town meeting on "The State of CM/PM Training: Is Our Profession at Risk?" with moderator Mike Dell'Isola, PE, CVS, FRICS.

Early registration - $495 for members - ends March 28. Standard registration costs $550 for members and runs through April 25. Onsite registration is $595. Reduced registration fees are available for additional corporate members, owner members, full-time academic members and speakers.

For more information, visit the Web site at http://cmaanet.org.

The Colorado chapter's next meeting will be on April 8 at the Holiday Inn Select Cherry Creek.

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