The saying “no small feat” barely encapsulates construction of the RCC Building at Portland International Airport.

The new six-story, 90,000-square-foot building (also known as the Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car facility, or PACR) holds the Transportation Security Administration‘s Portland headquarters, a rental car center, the port police headquarters and a central communications center.

General contractor JE Dunn Construction completed the RCC Building project on schedule in early July after three years of work. Meanwhile, the firm also is serving as the general contractor for “P3” – a seven-story, 1.65-million-square-foot parking structure adjacent to the building. That project is expected to conclude by early November.

The JE Dunn Construction crew included superintendent Jeff Byrne, project manager Stacey Flint, project engineer Sage Guttes and field engineer Kelsey Chan.

This was the first time Byrne worked on a project with a team of women, he said.

“We couldn’t have done it without any one of us,” he said.

There were 13 different design packages, six sets of project specifications, and 11 different general contracting permits for the RCC Building. Most projects just have one general contracting permit, Flint said.

Before constructing the foundation, the team spent over a year performing preliminary site work such as rerouting traffic and nearly 1,600 lineal feet of utility piping – including the main power-feed to the whole control tower.

“This project has been an absolute beast – a pleasure, but a beast of a project,” Flint said. “It’s huge. It’s complex.”

The site is near a busy airport that sees an average of 13,000 flights per month. The RCC Building sits between a runway, an airport terminal, a parking structure, the central utility plant, and a quick turnaround facility for rental car companies to clean and refuel motor vehicles.

When asked about the overarching challenges of the project, Flint said there were many.

“Really honestly, the permits, the drawing packages and the amount of preparatory enabling work we needed to do, and the complexity and the danger of the work being underground,” she said.

The underground work was for the Underground East Pedestrian Tunnel to link the Federal Aviation Administration tower, the central utility plant and “P2” (the existing parking structure). The tunnel had less than a foot of clearance on either side of it. Plus, with the weight of a parking structure, a control tower and a utility plant pressing down, the tunnel’s sides were put under immense pressure.

“We basically slipped this tunnel in there,” Flint said.

Meanwhile, both the parking structure and the RCC Building are loaded with seismic resiliency. With the latter serving as a command center for PDX operations, it was imperative that mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems be resilient. Isolated seismic floors in both the communications center and a data center will help ensure that. During a sizable earthquake, the entire building could be shaking, but each floor will remain stable – thanks to square, metal frames underneath that have wheels and are bolted down by a spring.

Also, running through the middle of the tunnel is the duct bank that holds all fiber-optic cables for PDX. Workers had to uncover the duct bank underground very carefully, Flint said. Any hard knock to the duct bank, she said, would cause all internet service at the airport to twitch.

“That’s how sensitive it is,” she said.

The work had to be done with hand tools because chipping wasn’t allowed. Once the duct bank was exposed, the crew completely encased it in steel scaffolding for support.

“We had our fingers crossed and breath held many times,” Flint said.

The duct bank had to be crossed seven times during construction, but building the tunnel around it was the hardest, Flint said.

“Thank goodness we did that almost two years ago now,” she said. “… You walk through it and are like ‘Man, this sucked,’ but we did it.”

The RCC Building was built in two phases, with 13 phases of work beforehand. More than 110 trade partners participated.

“I think that it was a great challenge – one of the most logistically complex projects that I have been a part of,” Byrne said.

Touting opportunities for women

Working on a team with mostly women wasn’t new for Flint. The first time she worked on a project full time for JE Dunn, she served as a project engineer; there was a female project manager and a male superintendent. Her next project had the same team composition.

“Honestly not uncommon for my life to have a strong … female-led project, and I’m really thankful for that,” Flint said. “I’m trying to heavily recruit women into the industry. I think they just need to know that they can do this and that this is a viable and extremely rewarding career option for them.”

Flint started in construction 10 years ago via a chance meeting, she said. There were significantly fewer females in the industry at that time, she added.

“Then the fact that my first project had a female project manager who was an absolute rock star – it was just like ‘wow,’ and this is awesome and something that we can do,” she said.

This was the first time Flint worked with Guttes and Chan.

“They are absolutely the future of construction for the JE Dunn Portland office,” Flint said. “Proud of this entire team.”

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Ambitions for a new parking garage and rental car center at Portland International Airport grew with a change in scope. The price tag grew along with it.

The Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car (PACR) project is now expected to cost $282 million, up from $246 million as conceived originally. That represents a 14.6 percent increase.

The design changes were driven by a desire to provide a single rental car facility, and eliminate the need for customers to take shuttle buses to some agencies’ locations.

“The fundamental thing is we decided to bring all of the rental car agencies on site,” said Vince Granato, the Port of Portland‘s project manager overseeing the portfolio of projects known as PDX Next. “We needed to make the facility bigger to accommodate that.”

An extra bay was added to the facility. The toll plaza was moved. And the project now includes a separate, stand-alone rental car center.

“It’s better customer service,” Granato said.

For now, five rental agencies are located on-site and three are off-site. When the rental car center is complete, 12 rental car companies plan to operate there.

JE Dunn Construction is building the 2,225-space parking garage, which was designed by YGH Architecture. Site work began in early 2018. The garage and rental car center are on track to open in fall 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to additional unexpected costs, Granato said. Two positive virus tests slowed work, he said.

“There have been COVID costs that have put pressure on the budget,” he said.

The parking garage is being funded by revenues from the airport’s parking operations. The rental car building is being funded by user fees paid by rental car customers and bonds issued for the project. To provide stability for both the Port of Portland and tenants, the rental car agencies agreed to 20-year leases in the new facility that will begin when they move in.

The project team saved costs in other ways, Granato said. JE Dunn locked in a steel purchase early on. The project has also benefited from stable costs for some materials.

That’s part of a wider trend, said Mike Salsgiver, executive director of the Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

“We’re still seeing some uptick in basic materials, but it’s kind of flattened out, because the industry’s kind of flattened out,” Salsgiver said.

The PACR project is part of the larger PDX Next initiative to modernize Oregon’s major airport. A $1.65 billion makeover of the main terminal building has begun with a joint venture of Hoffman Construction and Skanska USA Building in the pilot’s seat. ZGF Architects is designing the terminal.

The terminal project calls for replacing the roof with a seismically sound one and radically redesigning the interior.

“The floor will be the same,” Granato said, “but that’s about it.”

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At roughly 1.6 million square feet, the Parking Addition and Consolidated Rental Car (PACR) facility being constructed at Portland International Airport easily has the biggest footprint of any current project in the metro area.

It’s a whole lot of structural steel.

“It’s just a really, really big structure,” said Chris Hermreck, a senior project manager with general contractor JE Dunn Construction. “We’re building this garage that’s the size of these entire two (existing) buildings.”

The 2,400-space parking garage, designed by YGH Architecture, is being constructed via a progressive design-build contract. The new, seismically resilient (category 4) structure will hold Port of Portland offices, long-term parking, rental car service and offices, and a parking toll plaza.

The latter is already up and running, which enabled demolition and clearance of the old plaza, which sat where the new parking garage is on the rise. A new garage for rental car fueling, cleaning and storage has also been constructed.

One of the most significant phases of work in the entire project is under way: Ironworkers from Phoenix, Arizona-based Schuff Steel Co. have begun structural work on the 100,000-square-foot office building and five-level parking garage. Also, Carr Construction has been contracted to perform miscellaneous steel work.

Up to 50 ironworkers could be on site at one time when steel work reaches its peak later this summer, Hermreck estimated. The first column was set April 20, he added, and completion of structural work is anticipated sometime during the fourth quarter of this year.

Along with the sheer scope of work, steel erection is also challenged by the project location inside restricted Federal Aviation Administration airspace. This meant a traditional tower crane could not be used on site. Instead, crews are using a massive crawler crane with an articulated boom arm.

“This was a specially considered crane for a lot of reasons,” Hermreck said. “For capacity, and also because of the way it lays down at night. This has the reach and capacity and also the ability to get low enough.”

PACR is part of the five-year, $2 billion-plus PDX Next program in which nearly all of Portland International Airport is receiving upgrades. Construction of a new main terminal, the so-called T-Core project, is the centerpiece.

When it comes to PACR, work involves modifications to the existing P2 parking structure as well as significant improvements to surface roadways and underground utilities. Existing parking garages will connect to the new one.

JE Dunn is self-performing the concrete work for this project, while DeWitt Construction continues excavation and pile driving to accommodate construction of the new parking structure. Other major subcontractors on the job include Oregon Electric Group and JH Kelly Mechanical.

Once the new garage is complete, a temporary exit road will be shut down and a new exit connecting the new P3 garage and exit plaza will be installed.

The entire project should wrap up in 2021, according to the Port of Portland.

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The ability to inject carbon dioxide into concrete has existed for decades. But only within the past decade have parties begun to engage in such efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

Now, Vancouver, British Columbia-based CarbonCure has brought its carbon-sequestering technology to the Troutdale production plant of national concrete producer Knife River. Proprietary technology is used to inject recycled carbon dioxide into a given concrete mix, reducing the cement content correspondingly.

Following production of several test batches, the first field-grade batch of CarbonCure concrete was poured in February at Portland International Airport as part of the Port of Portland‘s Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car Facility (PACR) project. It’s being tackled by general contractor JE Dunn Construction.

“The Port was interested in what can we do that would be green on their project,” said Scott Thayer, project manager for Portland firm Yost Grube Hall Architecture, which designed the project. “The whole point of this is to reduce the cement content in the concrete. It’s one of the most carbon-intensive products in the world, especially in the amounts it is used and its prevalence in the world of construction. What’s beautiful about carbon is it’s a perfect substitute for the cement. It has similar strength-enhancing properties in the concrete mix.”

Yukari Kubo, a design professional with YGH and co-chair of the firm’s sustainability committee, said the key to getting a large manufacturer like Knife River to jump on board was to specify use of CarbonCure.

“It takes the architects to specify it and bring it to the attention of the client,” she said. “Out here it just didn’t exist.”

After calling concrete manufacturers on the East Coast, where CarbonCure has made more inroads, however, it was like talking to company representatives, she said.

“The only reason they don’t use it on every project is that the architects don’t specify it,” she said. “It’s a superior product.”

The technology is a little more than 10 years old, said Kevin Davis, CarbonCure’s Pacific Northwest representative. But it has begun to enter the industry only in the past several years.

“We’ve been focusing on the concrete producers for the last four years, so people like Knife River are the type of firms we deal with,” Davis said. “They supply a lot of concrete, and it makes a lot of sense.”

CarbonCure uses processed industrial carbon dioxide captured at a British Petroleum oil refinery in Blaine, Washington.

“It’s the same as is used in soft drinks and beer,” Davis said. “It’s readily available, and we’ve developed a technology that injects it into concrete, recalcifies the cement and allows use of less cement and makes it stronger. It just takes a little bit of software and technology to implement.”

Because the carbon dioxide replaces cement – the most costly ingredient of concrete – in a mix, the aggregate cost is reduced accordingly.

As climate change continues to gain attention, the technology is expected to attract interest, said Kelly Alexander, ready mix manager for Knife River’s Metro Division, which operates the Troutdale plant.

“We try and work with people like that to get the message out there,” he said. “So it’s our hope this won’t be the last Knife River plant we do, or the last in Portland. We make 3.8 million cubic yards a year, so there’s a tremendous opportunity to address most of this. We have the ability to impact production significantly across the state.”

Alexander said YGH approached Knife River last year, made its interest in CarbonCure known and got the process rolling. By the time Knife River put in a tender for the concrete on the project, CarbonCure technology had been specified for bidders.

“We tend to get the technology integrated,” he said. “Sometimes producers come to us proactively, and the other way is when someone like YGH specifies it into a project.”

So far, San Francisco is a very strong market for the new technology, as well as cities on the East Coast.

“In general, yes, the coasts are good,” Alexander said. “But we have a strong Midwest presence in Chicago, and we have pockets of business that tend to be around producers that have that sustainability message, and sometimes it doesn’t matter where they are.”

Davis was on hand in Troutdale in February to oversee installation of CarbonCure’s technology at Knife River’s plant, as well as the first pours of footings and pile caps featuring the new mixes.

“We’ll take a standard mix that Knife River has and add CO2 to that directly,” Davis said.

The company’s experience has shown the injection of carbon dioxide directly into a mix increases its strength by roughly 10 to 12 percent. But that’s only part of the equation.

“They need concrete that’s delivered to specs, not necessarily stronger, so we reduce the amount of cement to allow them to achieve their PSI figure,” Davis said. “It achieves the design strength with less cement, and that’s what gives us the carbon reduction.”

That’s the concept in a nutshell.

“The fact this hasn’t become the norm more quickly is a little bit surprising to me because it’s such a clear win,” Thayer said.

It’s a huge advance for the entire industry, Kubo added.

“All of the concrete manufacturers I spoke with on the East Coast were not charging any extra for it on any of their projects,” she said. “It is a fantastic technology and a game changer for our industry in terms of embodied carbon, which is what YGH is really focused on right now.”

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The five-year, $2 billion-plus PDX Next program calls for upgrading nearly all of Portland International Airport, piece by piece. Construction of a new main terminal is the heart of the initiative. But another critical project now under way will add a new six-story, 2,400-space parking garage, a four-story office building with an on-site car rental facility and a new exit plaza.

The new Parking Additions and Consolidated Rental Car Facility is expected to significantly help travelers and airport employees enter and exit the grounds.

“We’re really looking at it more as a transportation improvement around the whole airport,” Port of Portland spokeswoman Kama Simonds said.

YGH Architecture and JE Dunn Construction are using a progressive design-build model that allows for rapid and timely changes as needed.

The scope of work includes new offices for airport operations, additional long-term parking, a consolidated rental car facility, new rental car offices and a new and relocated parking toll plaza. Efforts that will enable these additions include modifications to the existing P2 parking structure as well as significant upgrades to surface roadways and underground utilities.

Work began over a year ago, and much has taken place since. The exit plaza building and travel lanes are nearly complete, and a new parking garage for rental car fueling, cleaning and storage has also been constructed. Another important portion of the project involves moving underground utilities out of the new buildings’ footprint.

JE Dunn is self-performing the concrete work for this project, and plenty of that remains – especially for the new parking structure. Crews are also building temporary ramps from the existing parking structures to provide egress while the new parking garage is built.

Finally, DeWitt Construction crews are excavating and pile driving to accommodate construction of the new parking structure. Because of the sensitivity of the radar systems and others used in the airport control tower, vibratory pile driving is being used instead of traditional drilling.

Much of the work involves temporary structures or solutions that will enable crews to complete permanent ones. That’s the case with a roadway being built to connect the parking structures with the new exit plaza. Once the new garage is complete, the temporary road will come out and a new roadway running straight east from the new P3 garage to the new exit plaza will be built.

“Ultimately, they will all come out on level three on P3, and it will be an elevated roadway all the way out of here,” said Anna Tindall, a Port of Portland civil engineering inspector. “You can see the squares down there – those are the piles they’ve already driven for the elevated roadway. This will all end up being an elevated roadway.”

Another crucial part of the will be the addition of a second light-rail track to the airport terminal. Currently, TriMet‘s MAX Red Line moves to and from the main terminal via a single spur line that will be replaced. The addition of a second track will ease MAX scheduling throughout the system.

Various phases of this project will roll out in stages. The new rental car storage garage is already up and running, while the new exit plaza should open in November. Then the temporary road will be constructed to clear space for construction of the P3 garage. But in the meantime, ironworkers are already building the rebar cages for the concrete beams that will tie the P2 and P3 structures together.

The complicated dance of scheduling and logistics should produce a finished parking garage by mid-2021, Simonds said.

“It’s super complex, and we’re moving everything around,” she said. “It’s crowded, and we’re making these small, micro-adjustments to make it better. But a big fix is still a couple of years off.”

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Travelers seeking to park their motor vehicles at Portland International Airport will eventually have more spaces to choose from. They just won’t be available until 2020.

That is when a $246 million, seven-story, long-term parking garage is scheduled to open at the airport. The project is in the early design phase, with Yost Grube Hall Architecture at work.

Insufficient airport parking has become plainly apparent, according to Port of Portland spokeswoman Kama Simonds.

“In the last two to three years our long-term parking garages have been full a lot, especially on Tuesday and Thursday with business travelers,” she said.

When long-term parking spaces fill, there is a ripple effect: drivers tend to head to short-term spaces, which forces more cars into the economy parking lot.

“The short-term lot is intended for people picking up passengers or those who have business at the airport,” Simonds said.

The new garage will include approximately 2,400 public parking spaces. The facility will also include a customer service lobby and 724,000 square feet for rental cars.

“It is our goal to have 100 percent of rental cars on site,” Simonds said. “Right now, some (companies) shuttle out to remote sites. Getting them close in is something that our customers have asked for.”

Money from taxpayers won’t be used to pay for the new garage, according to Simonds. People who rent and park cars at PDX will pick up the tab.

Flexibility is something that Yost Grube Hall Architecture was told to include in its design.

“We need flexibility with regards to technology,” Simonds said. “Maybe in 20 years or even two years self-driving cars will be in use. Then there is car sharing. We want to accommodate all of the different ways that people use cars. We have to be able to produce flexibility in the facility.”

Despite the frequent parking crunch, Portland International Airport ranked as one of the top airports in the country last year. PDX in 2016 saw a 9 percent surge in traffic to nearly 18 million fliers. Port officials are seeking to better serve those travelers via the new garage.

“Our goal is to have as many spaces as possible up front where people can walk to the terminal,” Simonds said. “That is something that is important to our customers.”

PAE Engineers, KPFF Consulting Engineers and DKS Associates are providing engineering services for the project. JE Dunn Construction will build the facility.

Design work is expected to continue through the third quarter of 2018. Construction is likely to begin in the fourth quarter of 2018 and last through the second quarter of 2020.

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