AECOM provided construction management services for a new, seven-story pre-cast elevated parking structure at Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois. The structure contains 6,300 parking spaces, as well as office space for the parking management company. AECOM also managed the construction of a new shuttle bus roadway, which begins at the garage, carries over busy Cicero Avenue, and continues on to the terminal.
Space availability and scheduling presented the greatest challenges in the construction of this facility. The Chicago Department of Aviation required phased demolition of a limited number of parking spaces in the existing parking lot, making the space available for the pre-cast erection and material staging very constrained.
Timing was critical because the construction created an extreme shortage of parking spaces at an airport where the parking lots are full every day. A fast-track method of producing and approving pre-cast shop drawings was used to shorten the lead-time for production. Another timesaving measure was the use of pre-topped tees for the floors, which eliminated the time required to install lightweight floor toppings.