Construction Magazine January 2016 | Page 39

TURNER CONSTRUCTION – SAN ANTONIO AIRPORT CONSOLIDATED RENTAL CAR FACILITY ( CONRAC )
drive lanes to level 4 and into this large expansive lobby that will have all the rental brands in front of you ,” said Wildt . “ If you have a vehicle reserved , you check in and go down to your vehicle . If you don ’ t , you ’ ve got all of the brands right there available to you that you can rent from . It creates instant and easy access for the renting public — you don ’ t have to get on a shuttle for 10- 20 minutes , it ’ s a direct connect .”
Wildt adds that this centralized location is of benefit to departing travelers as well . “ On the other side , when you ’ re coming back to return your vehicle , you don ’ t have to return it somewhere offsite and then take a shuttle to the airport to catch your flight ,” he said . “ The rental car center is right there in the center , so I can drop off my car , walk across the sky bridge and go to my gate .”
While the sky bridge to Level 4 creates convenience for consumers , the adjacent QTA creates convenience for the rental car services with amenities like 54 fueling points and direct connections of its own .
“ The actual service levels are 2 , 3 and 4 , and each of those floors is connected via a combination sky bridge and circulation helix to the rental car center ,” said Wildt . “ This is set up for operational efficiency : every functional level where you ’ re renting vehicles is connected via direct drive lane over to this QTA , so they don ’ t have to take the cars all the way down to the ground to some facility offsite to have them cleaned and refueled . It ’ s a very simple and direct connection that makes things very efficient for the operators .”
Balancing progress with safety Construction projects are regularly complex , but that complexity compounds when it ’ s a 1.6 million square foot project underway in the middle of a busy transportation hub populated by thousands of travelers and employees passing through every day .
“ It ’ s smack dab in the middle of airport proper , so logistically it ’ s a very tight project ,” said Wildt . “ On the west boundary of our site we have a long term parking garage that has to stay up and operational , and on the east side are the drive lanes for the terminals that have to stay up and operational .”
www . turnerconstruction . com 39