SEAT Project Advancing at Charlotte Airport
Ames Construction is on the move at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.
The South End-Around Taxiway (SEAT) project includes the construction of cast-in-place box culverts, and crews are using a mobile form system to build them. It works like this: Crews pour concrete for a 70-foot section, remove the inside walls, slide the rest of the form forward, replace the walls, and add the rebar. Then the process repeats for the next section. The operation eliminates the need to generate new forms for each section, building sustainability into the project.
Ames is constructing five runs of box culverts totaling 2,500 linear feet for the SEAT project. Crews pour one base slab, wall, and roof per week. Additional scope includes mass grading, a 110,000-square-foot soil nail wall, and paving.
Crews are contending with tricky logistics: Excavation operations were 35 feet in the ground at the south end of the airport’s busiest runway. Crane operators are working with only 65 feet of overhead clearance to stay below the approach surface for landing aircraft.
When complete, the taxiway will enable aircraft to taxi without crossing a runway. In a second project, Ames is constructing parallel Taxiway V and associated connector taxiways. Both projects support a future new runway at the airport.
The Taxiway V project will continue through early 2026 and the SEAT project through mid-2027.
