Seismic Upgrades of Air Traffic Control - Nationwide

Under an On-Call AE Design Contract with the FAA Eastern Service Area, Pond performed seismic evaluations at four existing Air Traffic Control towers. The towers located at Charleston, SC; Augusta, GA; Paducah, KY and San Juan, PR are all within areas of high seismicity.

The evaluations for each of the sites were performed in accordance with the ASCE 31-03, “Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings”. The evaluations included a Tier 1 evaluation of the structural systems and non-structural components and a Tier 2 Analysis and Evaluation of the lateral-force-resisting system. The Tier 1 and 2 evaluations and analyses identified structural deficiencies at each of the towers that required a Tier 3 analysis. The Tier 3 analyses were performed in accordance with the requirements of ASCE 41-06, “Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings” and modifications were designed and detailed to address these deficiencies.

Re-evaluation of existing reports was accomplished, followed by site visits and a report detailing recommendations for corrections. Construction Documents were then prepared to affect the corrections, which included structural, mechanical, electrical and architectural items.

Each ATCT needed different solutions for compliance with regulators. Pond provided the FAA a proposed sequence of construction for each site to demonstrate how the approach would be completed.

Pond performed construction administration services on the Paducah (PAH) and Charleston (CHS) projects.