Terminal B Lower Roadway to Reopen Five Days Early
Quick Work Allows for Opening at 7 a.m. Saturday June 26, 2010

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Port Authority announced the Terminal B lower roadway is expected to reopen at 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 26, because the pace of the installation of more than 100 11-ton precast concrete roadway support beams quickened as the work progressed.

Barring any unforeseen problems with the installation of the last half-dozen beams on the roadway late Friday night, the roadway will reopen five days earlier than scheduled.

“I am delighted to announce Boston Logan will return to normal this weekend and I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding over the last three days. I apologize for the disruption,’’ said Ed Freni, Director of Aviation for Massport, which owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport.

The work is part of Massport’s $55 million rehabilitation of the 36-year-old Terminal B garage and roadway system, one of several projects to build a better Logan.

With the roadway re-opening, all buses will return to their normal routes and the MBTA Silver Line will again be able to access Terminal B. The lower level of the Terminal B parking garage will remain closed until Monday, when it will again be open to Parking Passport Gold members. Parking Passport Gold is a Massport program that guarantees airport parking.

In November, the roadway was closed for one night so engineers could test the installation process of a “mock up” structural beam. The wooden mock up was 60 feet long, weighed 2,500 pounds, and was needed to gauge the ease of transporting the concrete beams into the Terminal B roadway system; and how quickly they could be off-loaded from trucks and positioned for installation in the tight confines of the roadway.

Engineers had calculated it would take about 90 minutes for a truck to bring a beam in on the lower roadway, have two forklifts take the beam off the truck, pivot in tandem, place the beam on a cradle system, and then raise the beam and attach it in place. Because the space is so constrained, only one beam could be installed at a time. As installation on the 125 beams proceeded, the rate of installation averaged about 30 minutes a beam.

In all, 240 beams will be needed for the rehab project to maintain the roadway system in good condition, and the lower level roadway will be closed again in late August so the remaining 115 beams can be installed on the American Airlines side of the terminal.

Boston Logan, 15 minutes from the intersection of Route 128 and I-90 and five minutes from downtown Boston, serves as the gateway to the New England region and offers nonstop service to 70 domestic and 31 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, the airport spent $4.5 billion on a modernization program that includes new terminals, parking facilities, roadways and airport concessions, and has been transformed into a world-class 21st Century facility. The airport generates $7 billion in total economic impact each year.

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The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) operates Boston Logan International Airport, the Port of Boston, Hanscom Field and Worcester Regional Airport. Massport is a financially self-sustaining public authority whose premier transportation facilities generate more than $8 billion annually, and enhance and enable economic growth and vitality in New England. For more information please visit massport.com.

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