The latest construction problem that has plagued the new terminal at Louis Armstrong International Airport, an issue with its drainage system, is almost completely resolved, and the terminal will open sometime this fall, officials said Wednesday.
Director of Aviation Kevin Dolliole and other airport officials told the City Council's Transportation Committee that they did not know exactly what caused the cracks in the drainage system under the new terminal, but that crews have fixed 126 of the 127 breaks found.
Crews have also poured new concrete in 104 of the 127 holes that had to be dug to inspect the system that's part of a $1.3 billion project.
The repair work related to the drainage system will finish by September, as will work on the access road to the new terminal, officials said. The flyovers that will ease access for drivers coming to the airport from Interstate 10 are still years away, however.
The terminal itself is 98% complete and still on track to open in the fall, said Dolliole.
"In the coming weeks, we will go public with (exactly) what that (opening) date is," he said.
The hesitation to announce a firm completion date comes after four previously announced deadlines were derailed by changes to the project’s design or problems with construction.
The terminal was originally supposed to be finished by May 2018, in time for New Orleans’ tricentennial celebration and former Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s final days in office.
But a rush job to make that deadline would have cost more money. The next selected date, October, wasn't able to accommodate the five new gates officials decided the terminal needed to handle an expected surge in travelers.
A deadline of February 2019 was rendered moot by a shifting sewage pipe; a May 2019 deadline was axed because concessionaires needed more accommodations.
Officials finally gave up on assigning a specific date to the project, simply saying it would be complete “in the fall.”
This summer, some sections of the drainage system under the terminal began to crack, though officials said that problem was minor and shouldn’t cause any more delays.
They have repaired nearly all of the cracks in the system, and intend to finish an investigation into what caused the problems within the next two months, said Chris Spann, a consultant hired by the New Orleans Aviation Board.
Spann said in an interview he was confident the cracking issue wasn’t related to soil subsidence.
The terminal "was designed for that subsidence to occur,” he said, referring to the 5,000 piles on which the building sits.
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