South Bend International Airport (SBN) will celebrate the completion of the five-year $105 million Taxiway Bravo Realignment and Ramp Reconstruction project with a ribbon cutting on the airfield on Tuesday morning. This ‘behind the scenes’ project will have major long-term impact on the airport’s smooth and efficient operation.
The Taxiway Bravo realignment was needed for safety and separation. The project corrected the taxiway’s geometry to enhance pilot wayfinding and separated the taxiway from the terminal ramp. These are both important as SBN has grown with larger aircraft and more frequent flights.
The terminal ramp was lowered approximately 4 feet to accommodate the airport’s growth as well. Prior to this project, mainline aircraft could only park at two gates. With the completion of this project, mainline aircraft and larger regional jets can utilize any gate. A new deice pad allows for more efficient deice operations.
The project’s scope included excavation of nearly 920,000 cubic yards of soil. This is equivalent to 280 Olympic-sized swimming pools. More than 133,000 tons of asphalt were laid, equivalent to 40 miles of two-lane county roads. The terminal ramp consists of more than 20 acres of concrete, 14 inches thick. More than 137,000 feet, or 26 miles, of electrical and communication cables were installed. This is enough to go from SBN to the University of Notre Dame and back two and a half times. 475 airfield light fixtures were changed from incandescent to LED. 2.87 miles of stormwater pipe and 84 stormwater structures were installed. 1,239 gallons of paint were used for airfield markings.
“Of the $105 million project, $96 million came from federal funding with the remaining from state and local sources,” said SBN’s CEO & Executive Director Mike Daigle. “This funding from the Federal Aviation Administration was competitive and could have gone anywhere in the country. I am proud that our team was able to secure the funding that resulted in needed infrastructure investment and job creation.”
The project was phased carefully over five construction seasons to minimize the impact on operations. It began at the west end of the airfield and moved eastward.
Learn more about South Bend International Airport at www.flySBN.com
