Harris County Airport, located in Pine Mountain, Georgia, recently contracted with Pond to complete a project to relocate the primary taxiway to meet the runway centerline to taxiway centerline separation for Airplane Design Group II. The airport had to remain operational throughout the duration of the project, so Pond worked to phase construction tasks carefully so that the airport’s runway would not be affected.
This project was originally designed and bid by another consultant, and after the county received bids from the contractors for the work, Pond was brought on board to perform construction administration and inspection services to ensure the project was constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications. The recommended contractor’s bid was considered too high, so Pond was tasked to find ways to reduce it.
Pond performed a value engineering (VE) exercise to determine deficiencies in the design and to identify potential construction cost savings. As a result to the VE, two major cost savings were identified:
– Modified several of the storm drainage pipe invert elevations thereby reducing the diameter of reinforced concrete pipes; and
– Eliminated two proposed taxiway connectors not needed for the current airport’s operational needs thereby reducing the quantity of embankment material, piping and paving. These connectors will be constructed during the next runway extension project.
These adjustments and revisions ultimately saved the project about $400,000, lowering the budget from $2.8 million to $2.4 million allowing the project to proceed as planned.