Airport Expansion Stores Storm Water Underground

When management wanted to upgrade the terminal services at Duluth International Airport in Minnesota, they needed a robust, flexible storm water management system to support the expansion while protecting the neighboring environment.

Because of the growing awareness of the dangers posed to aviation by aboveground retention ponds due to their tendency to attract waterfowl to airport sites, developers determined that an underground system was preferred.

The Duluth area, however, posed many difficulties because of the extremely rocky terrain and sloped landscapes. Additionally, the airport site had existing infrastructure that had to be worked around.

Triton Stormwater Solutions’ underground chambers were chosen for ease of installation, ability to support ground pressures and flexibility with respect to design, along with storage capacity that allowed the developers to achieve the needed storm water storage in the smallest possible footprint. The chambers were installed under 18 ft of backfill and then asphalt, allowing for the airport’s heavy snow removal and emergency vehicles along with cargo and transport vehicles to easily move about the site.

The chamber installation was completed in just 81/2 hours by a three-man team, and the entire storm water portion of the terminal expansion was finished in less than a week.

The development team was able to create 32,000 cu ft of storage in a 200-ft-by-85-ft trench. The ease of installation of the chambers allowed the storm water portion of the project to stay on time and within budget.

Developers finished the storm water management phase in October 2012 and the new terminal is scheduled to begin serving customers next fall.