The Tucson Airport Authority selected WSP USA to provide program management and construction management services for its Airfield Safety Enhancement Program at Tucson International Airport.

Driven by the Federal Aviation Administration Runway Incursion Mitigation Program, the $218 million project will include demolition of a narrow and short general aviation runway. It will be replaced by a full-length parallel 11R/29L runway to provide redundancy for aircraft.

The five-year improvement project is intended to eliminate locations on the airport movement area with a history of potential risk of collision to mitigate potential runway incursions. Source: Tucson Airports AuthorityThe project also includes construction of new bypass taxiways and connector taxiways, installation of aircraft guidance systems and modernization of the airfield geometry to the latest FAA safety standards.

The airport is included on an FAA list of about 150 airports with a relatively high number of “runway incursions,” which includes improper movement of planes, vehicles or pedestrians on the ground that range from collisions to simply being in an unauthorized area.

The five-year improvement project is intended to eliminate locations on the airport movement area with a history of potential risk of collision to mitigate potential runway incursions.

From 2008 to 2017, the FAA logged 53 runway incursions at two locations at the Tucson airport, 11 on one of the main runways and 42 at a taxiway on the north end of the field, with a peak of 10 incursions in one year on the taxiway.

None of the incursion events resulted in a collision or injury, and no airliners were involved in the incidents.

Under terms of the contract, WSP will be responsible for the overall program coordination, project controls, FAA flight procedure and navigational aid coordination and general construction administration of a total of four construction packages that make up the program.

Construction is expected to begin by mid-2020, with completion by 2025. WSP is a professional services firm employing roughly 49,000 people.