AirTrain JFK

Client: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

Construction Cost: $1.9B

Key Facts:

  • Nine miles of elevated structure; including 2.3 miles in the Van Wyck Expressway median
  • Construction completed in 27 months, three months ahead of schedule
  • GM2's Complex Bridge staff (formerly with the FIGG Group) were a sub-consultant to the Air Rail Transit Consortium; Koch Skanska, holder of the DBOM contract
  • 13 awards for innovation & excellence, including AREMA 2003 Dr. W. W. Hay Award for Excellence

GM2's Complex Bridge Staff supported this project for precast segmental design of 9 miles.

AirTrain JFK was a major design/build/operate/maintain transit project, completed for approximately $ 1.9 billion in New York for the Port Authority as a revenue generating facility. The precast concrete segmental superstructure utilized the most precast segments of any bridge in America when it was completed in 2001 (5,409 in 461 spans ) and was erected three months ahead of schedule. A 2.3 mile section of the system was built in the middle of the Van Wyck Expressway, an extremely congested six-lane highway bordered by residential and commercial properties. The erection methods and four erection trusses designed by GM2's Complex Bridge staff allowed construction to efficiently proceed while keeping traffic moving. An average of four spans of 124 ft.
was completed weekly within the Van Wyck Expressway median on 5’ wide circular piers.

Precast segments were cast in Virginia, barged over 250 miles to Camden, New Jersey, then trucked to the site, more than 100 miles away. A total of 14 casting cells were in operation at peak production. Due to limited site storage, segments were timed to arrive less than two days before erection.

GM2's Complex Bridge staff provided design and management of the system superstructure, along with the construction erection trusses.