Tulsa International Airport's new customs facility, entry sign, other projects on track
More than $150 million is being or will be spent on various projects at the airport. Tulsa International Airport is undergoing extensive construction, with over $150 million being spent on various projects, including a new federal Customs facility, a new air traffic control tower, and a new main entry sign for motorists on Airport Drive. Funding is largely from federal grants and tens of millions of dollars from Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust, which operates both Tulsa International and Tulsa Riverside airports. The 45,000-square-foot Customs facility is under initial construction phases on the southeast side of the airport’s main terminal, with earth-moving equipment breaking up existing concrete to verify underground utility lines. The new Customs facility's design pays homage to the airport's history and is designed to be a new front door for the airport.
Publié : il y a 10 mois par Michael Dekker Tulsa World, michael dekker, victor lopez dans Business Travel
Amid the sounds of aircraft taking off and landing at Tulsa International Airport, something else can be both heard and seen: Heavy construction on the ground.
“There is a lot going on,” said Alexis Higgins, chief executive officer of Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust, which operates both Tulsa International and Tulsa Riverside airports.
“You can see it when you are coming in.”
At Tulsa International, more than $150 million is being or will be spent on various projects, ranging from a planned new air traffic control tower to new artwork above the security checkpoint area, to a new main entry sign for motorists on Airport Drive.
Much of the funding is coming from federal grants, along with tens of millions of dollars from TAIT, which is a self-sustaining entity and receives no taxpayer money from the city.
Among the new projects is one that has gained local attention — especially on social media — a new federal Customs facility that will allow for direct, commercial, international flights for the first time from and to Tulsa.
The planned, nearly $41 million, 45,000-square-foot Customs facility is under initial construction phases on the southeast side of the airport’s main terminal, with earth-moving equipment breaking up existing concrete in order to verify underground utility lines.
The planned facility, announced in a news release distributed to all local news media outlets in January, resulted in rumors on social media, which Mayor G.T. Bynum addressed in a Tulsa World op-ed piece published in March.
The mayor wrote, “Fiction: Tulsa is building one of the largest illegal immigrant processing centers in America, and they’re going to be held in a camp at 31st Street and Memorial Drive!”
“This is completely wrong,” Bynum wrote. “The new customs facility at the airport is being built so we can have direct flights to international destinations. Any airport that does this must have a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol processing facility for people and their luggage. It is for airline patrons, not for processing illegal immigrants. Anyone flying internationally goes through one of these.
“I have absolutely no idea where the 31st Street and Memorial Drive site falsehood originated, but that claim is also a lie.”
The airport is located 5 miles north of 31st and Memorial, where there are Cracker Barrel and IHOP restaurants, a Cavender’s Western Wear store, and Jim Norton T-Town Chevrolet car dealership and service center.
Tyler Sappington, an architect with Tulsa-based Narrate Design and project manager for the new Customs facility, said its design pays homage to the airport’s history.
“When completed in 1961, the first phase of the existing Tulsa International Airport terminal was a paragon of the international architectural style,” he said in an email to the Tulsa World. “It stood as a testament to forward-thinking design.”
He said in the spirit of continuity and reverence, the new international wing of the terminal pays homage to this pioneering style. There is also a nod to Tulsa’s rich art deco heritage.
“Looking to the future,” he wrote, “the addition is designed to be a new front door for the airport, providing an exciting new approach for passengers.”
The new customs facility is planned to be open in late 2025 or early 2026, airport officials said.
Over the last several weeks and months, most motorists coming in to drop off or pick up airport passengers have had to deal with orange barrels, highway detours and street construction in the airport itself.
The concrete pavement of Airport Drive — the entrance to the airport — is being replaced in phases, off and on since January, Higgins said.
But she said that work should finally be completed at the end of this month.
“We have to do this about once every 10 years,” she said, citing the volume of traffic.
“The (Airport Drive) lanes have been narrowed sometimes, but we have always kept everything open,” she said.
Meanwhile, the eastbound Interstate 244 ramp to westbound Oklahoma 11 — the highway that leads to the airport — is closed through December while the Oklahoma Department of Transportation replaces bridges.
ODOT recommends eastbound I-244 motorists going to the airport detour by exiting to Mingo Road to access Oklahoma 11. The westbound access to Oklahoma 11 toward the airport is open, for now.
Motorists also may exit I-244 at Memorial Drive and go north on that street.
However, the left lanes in both directions of I-244 are blocked off with construction barrels about a quarter of the mile from exits to Memorial.
The exits to Memorial are open in a short break in the barrels in the left lanes in both directions on I-244.
“The left lane closure on eastbound I-244 will be in place until the project nears completion due to needed access to the work zone,” ODOT spokesman T.J. Gerlach said.
“The westbound I-244 lane closure could be removed earlier as work on the bridge over the westbound lanes is further along than the second bridge over the eastbound SH-11 ramp to eastbound I-244,” he said.
“The contractor is making excellent progress and we anticipate the project could be finished around Thanksgiving, weather permitting,” Gerlach said.
ODOT administers construction on Oklahoma 11 and I-244; the city of Tulsa is responsible for maintenance of streets leading into and out of the airport; TAIT is responsible for Airport Drive and all other streets and access roads within airport property.
TAIT last month awarded Tulsa-based Flintco Construction with a contract to build a new air traffic control tower and base building at Tulsa International Airport.
Flintco also is building the new Customs facility.
For the new tower, TAIT received three bids on the project, of which Flintco’s $76.9 million was the lowest.
Higgins said construction of the new control tower is scheduled to begin in the fall and be completed by 2026 or 2027.
“The FAA is going to need time to test their equipment and accept the project,” Higgins said. “So we don’t think that it will be officially open until the spring of 2027.”
The project’s overall cost is $112.6 million, including $4.6 million for engineering and design, $26.5 million to be paid to the FAA for equipment and services, and administrative fees.
The airport has secured $86.1 million in local, state and federal dollars for the project.
“That leaves a funding gap of $26.5 million, and TAIT is going to fund that,” Higgins said. “However, we also are going to continue to seek additional grant funds to help offset that cost.”
According to the FAA, the average lifespan of an air traffic control tower is no more than 30 years. Tulsa International Airport’s tower was constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The airport also is installing a new entry sign intended to show “the vibrant personality of Tulsa,” officials said.
The new entry monument will replace the existing sign, in place since 2001. The previous sign was constructed in preparation for the city’s hosting the U.S. Open, airport spokeswoman Kim Kuehler said.
The new entry sign is expected to be completed by this fall.
Also at the airport:
A new $2.3 million lounge that has locally-sourced food and beverages, in-house chefs and high-speed Wi-Fi, is expected to open by the fall.
The Escape Lounge will be about 3,100 square feet, with seating capacity for over 60 people. Its will be located past the security checkpoint and will be open to anyone with a boarding pass, but will cost $40 to $45 via a daily pass for those wanting all amenities — including unlimited food and full bar service.
The public art project will be the largest investment the airport has funded for its collection, officials said.
The new piece, titled “Sunrising,” will hang over the entrance to the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and will feature a series of 40 suspended colored-resin panels that shift through the color gradation of a sky from sunrise to sunset.
Each panel will be individually mounted to a motor hidden in the ceiling above, and the entire installation will slowly rotate, creating a wavelike movement from side to side across a 140-foot span.
The location will also feature a Cinnabon bakery. It will be open from 4 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily.
Promise Hotels last year marked the opening of a new Home2 Suites hotel, a 103-guest suite property, owned and operated by Pete Patel, president and CEO.
In addition to the new hotel, TAIT approved an agreement with the Patel’s newest business venture, TNP Fuels, LLC, to build a convenience store on-site at the airport.
Higgins said that project may take about a year or more to complete.
— World Staff Writer Kevin Canfield contributed to this story.