Revitalizing Airport Airside and Restrooms

Philadelphia International Airport is one of the busiest airfields in the United States, serving 32 million passengers annually with more than 390,000 takeoffs and landings in 2019. This high traffic usage has taken a heavy toll on the airfield and facilities, and the City of Philadelphia is making multiple airside and landside improvements to improve the experience for passengers, airlines and other stakeholders.

HDR was awarded an on-call contract in 2018 to provide airside engineering design and consulting services. Building on our relationship as a trusted advisor to PHL, we were awarded a second on-call contract in 2019, which includes the detailed planning, programming and design of 31 sets of passenger restrooms in the airport’s seven-concourse terminal, each set containing a men’s, women’s and companion care restroom.

Multi-Project Civil On-Call Contract

Throughout the original $2.25 million airside civil contract, we supported the City of Philadelphia with obstruction/airspace evaluations, airfield operational procedure evaluations, development of modifications to standards for special authorization Category II approaches and aircraft routing for the Boeing 747-800, airfield pavement evaluation and planning, landside roadway signage upgrade study, and design reviews for projects prepared by others.

Our data-driven airfield pavement planning was grounded in risk mitigation and included thorough field work such as pavement inspection, borings and supplemental geotechnical testing as needed. Combined with traffic, structural and financial analysis and an updated pavement database, the result was a pavement repair strategy and pavement management program that will enhance pavement longevity and will increase the airfield’s Pavement Condition Index while reducing the backlog of major rehabilitation projects.

PHL is also in the process of expanding their cargo operations through the West Cargo Development. HDR originally developed program definition documents for the $650-plus million site development. HDR also provided preliminary engineering services for the advancement of this 160-plus acre site. The site includes multiple facility relocations, aircraft parking for more than 30 large (Group V and VI) cargo aircraft, and design of approximately 500,000 square feet of aircraft parking apron and taxiway.

Modern Airport Restroom Design

The airport’s $90 million restroom renovation program started with a one-year planning study done by HDR evaluating PHL’s overuse and capacity issues. Our team is creating the final design, which includes gender specific restrooms, gender neutral restrooms, family and companion care restrooms, lactation suites and service animal relief areas. Current restrooms are being expanded in this design and three new restrooms added for a total 10% expansion over current restroom capacity.

The design modernizes each restroom, with smart restroom technology, including real-time signage, stall occupancy sensors, and throughput counters for ease of maintenance and cleanliness. Features include large format sintered stone panels to reduce grout lines, epoxy terrazzo flooring, nearly 80 new fixtures including, trough sinks and touchless three-in-one faucets with soap, water and hand dryers all at the sink.

It was important that the seven phase project does not overly impact any one area of the airport with construction, which meant careful planning of construction sequencing. The restrooms are being renovated and reopened on a rolling basis, with construction on Phase 5 scheduled to start in fall 2022 and be completed by 2027.