Kind: captions
Language: en
For years, LaGuardia has stood in the
shadow of its much larger siblings, JFK
and Newark. This is my first trip to
LaGuardia and probably my last. I don't
want to come back.
But in 2016, an $8 billion plan to
completely transform the space broke
ground, kicking off one of the most
significant airport redevelopment
projects in United States history, and
the first new one in more than 25 years.
Terminals B and C were given complete
makeovers and a whole bunch of other key
upgrades were made, all while making
sure flights stayed on schedule.
LaGuardia went from being rated one of
the most dreaded airports in the country
to one of the best. So, how'd they pull
it off? To connect the state-of-the-art
four-story terminal B to its new
concourses, engineers constructed two
massive pedestrian bridges extending
above the tarmac. The team used two
different techniques to make each one.
The eastern bridge was built out onto
temporary towers, one piece of steel at
a time, to meet in the middle, 65 ft
above ground. But the western bridge was
assembled differently. They built it in
six massive sections on the ground from
2500 tons of steel, then lifted these
vast trusses into place on top of the
makeshift towers. On the other side of
the airport, construction crews got to
work on the brand new terminal C. This
section of LaGuardia expects to see
around 14 million passengers walk
through it every year. So, architects
proposed building a 15,000 square foot
opening called an Oculus to flood the
entrance with light. The Oculus was
built from almost 400 pieces of
interlocking steel. To save time, the
main truss was raised and installed in
one piece. The whole structure was
hoisted 100 ft in the air with a crane
and bolted into place by a team of iron
workers on the roof. Engineers have also
attempted to futureproof LaGuardia to
withstand extreme or changing weather.
They built an innovative way to both
heat and cool the airport to deal with
changing New York climate. And to
protect Terminal C from storm surges and
floods, architects designed Concourse G
to stand on 20ft concrete columns,
allowing floodwaters to pass underneath
without causing damage. The LaGuardia
Airport construction blended cuttingedge
engineering, modern architecture, and
future focused design to transform it
into a one-of-a-kind facility.
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