New Design Dwarfs Existing Facility
The FAA will build a
new $25 million air traffic control tower at Memphis International
Airport, and a new road network will be established at the airport
to complement the tower's construction. The Memphis-Shelby County
Airport Authority already has plans in place to restructure the
roads and the FAA's new tower will be coordinated along with that
effort, says airport director of development Robert Beesley. "We
have to move the roads for our good reasons," Beesley says. "It
just so happens we're moving the roads for them (FAA). We need to
coordinate their efforts and our efforts so we don't step on each
other's toes out there in front of the terminal."
The new 307-foot tower will dwarf the existing 185-foot tower.
The tower's base building will also be significantly larger than
the existing building, expanding from about 20,000-square-feet to a
two-story, 30,000-square-foot structure. "It's really going to help
the image of the airport and give us some functionality we don't
have," says Neda White, national airspace system plan manager with
the FAA's Memphis Systems Maintenance office.
The new tower is necessary because the Memphis airport has
basically outgrown its current tower, says Glen Beaupre, FAA
regional account manager for air traffic organization terminal
services. He says a lot of research and development is done in
Memphis, including research for ground base sensor technology. The
Safe Flight 21 program takes technology provided to pilots to a
higher level, giving them the ability to uplink radar information
about other aircraft, weather and terrain maps.
The new tower is 35 percent through its design phase. The
government has allocated $1.47 million for advanced engineering and
design, but because the tower's funding has to be appropriated by
Congress, exact timelines are difficult to measure, says
Christopher White, spokesman for the FAA. A final design
could be completed by March 2005, Neda White says, and once the
funds are allocated, construction is expected to take about 18
months.
The $16 million roadway
construction program will change the way drivers enter the airport.
Currently, inbound traffic moves through the center of the
airport's property before making a wide, right turn to reach the
terminal and baggage claim areas. Outbound traffic duplicates that
path and also moves through the centered traffic signal. With the
new system, outbound traffic will not have to curve back through
the center traffic signal and can simply exit the airport on the
right side of the new tower. The airport authority will also be
shifting the entrance roadway farther to the right side of the
tower, thus eliminating the need for a traffic signal. The outbound
path will be constructed first, so the FAA can build its tower in
between the in- and outbound roadways. Construction for outbound
will begin in late 2004 or 2005, Beesley says, but the inbound
follow-up project has not inked out a timeline.
The old tower, built in 1977, is also not high enough for future
airport growth and construction plans, Neda White says. At its
current height, the controller's sight is impeded on some movement
areas due to airport expansion, but this visibility will be
improved with the tower's new height. The new tower's location will
be slightly west of where the current tower stands. The FAA studied
16 different site locations, but decided the spot closest to the
old tower was the most strategic. Although these projects are years
from fruition, airport traffic will eventually enter and exit in a
circular path around the new tower without coming through any
central traffic impediments. Aesthetic improvements are planned for
the tower and base building, including updated landscaping, fencing
and signage.