Expansion to Winnipeg Airport begins

Work has begun on the expansion to Winnipeg International Airport. The $572-million project is to culminate with a 51,000-m2 new terminal building that will be constructed between 2006 and 2009. First to be built, however, is a four-level, 1,600-stall parkade due to be ready by the end of next year.
However, Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba are struggling to keep construction workers, who are being lured to Alberta to work on the oilsands. A CBC report said that people employed in heavy construction were being lured from Winnipeg to Alberta by bonuses as high as $50,000. Winnipeg has a number of large construction projects beginning, including the Red River Floodway Expansion and a $230-million water treatment plant.
At the airport site preparation work under way includes widening the major approach road and the relocation of utility lines. New storm sewers, additional roads and the expansion of the Central Utilities Building will be started by summer.
Wardrop Engineering, headed by Dean Stewart as principal in charge, and Parsons are heading the airport expansion program team. They are responsible for “program management support.” Design groups include consulting engineering firms Stantec Architecture, Marshall Macklin Monaghan and Earth Tech Canada. Pelli Clarke Pelli are the architects. The contractors are Man-Shield and PCL.