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The lower level arrival roadway at Boston Logan International Airport’s Terminal B will be closed Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. so engineers working on the $55 million rehabilitation of the Terminal B parking garage can test the installation process of a “mock up” structural beam.

The wooden mock up is 60 feet long, weighs 2,500 pounds, and is needed to gauge the ease of transporting the 10 ton concrete beams of the same length into the Terminal B roadway system; and how quickly they can be off-loaded from trucks and positioned for installation in the tight confines of the garage. The exercise will help determine how many beams can be handled in one night. In all, 240 beams will be needed for the rehab project. Access to and from the garage will not be impacted during the road closure.

The garage project includes the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the garage roof and the replacement of existing lighting with Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights in the garage, roadway and walkway. The solar panels will be installed in the coming months.

Constructed in 1974, the Terminal B garage has 2,640 spaces on five levels. Other upgrades to the garage and roadway system include the installation of a public address system, replacement of signage, column strengthening, drainage improvements and structural repairs. The project is expected to be complete in 2012.

Massport estimates that the use of LED fixtures use 49 percent less electricity – about 2,261,218 Kw-hours of electricity per year -- than existing usage. This, along with energy conservation measures, will reduce 1307 metric tons of CO2 and is the equivalent of not using 3,040 barrels of oil or 148,385 gallons of gasoline annually. The LED lights will cost approximately $2 million, about twice the amount of standard lighting, with the airport recouping its investment in 5.5 years. The airport expects a savings of $3.8 million in electrical usage over the next 20 years based on costs of $0.12 per kW-hr.

The installation of 16 solar panel trees is expected to produce 83,980 KW hours of electricity, or 2.5 percent of the total garage annual consumption. This is equal to the reduction of 50 metric tons of CO2 and is the equivalent of not using 115 barrels of oil or 5637 gallons of gasoline annually. Each solar panel “tree”, is a single structure design with a stem and steel frame that uses solar panels as a roof. The design has the added benefit of collecting rainwater that will be used for landscaping and cleaning projects on the airport. Each solar array will be mounted on an air ventilation unit on the roof of the garage and will not affect parking or the number of spaces.

Boston Logan, 15 minutes from Routes 128/90 and 5 minutes from downtown Boston, serves as the gateway to the New England region and offers nonstop service to more than 70 domestic and 30 international destinations and in 2008 handled 26.1 million passengers. Boston Logan is the Air Line Pilot Association’s Airport of the Year for 2008 because of its commitment to safety. Over the past decade, more than $4.4 billion has been spent building new terminals, parking facilities – including a cell phone lot, roadways, airfield improvements and airport concessions, all of which has transformed the airport into a world-class 21st Century facility and the airport of choice for all of New England.