Toronto Pearson Airport getting $889M Makeover; 12,600-Space Garage Underway

March, 2002

The Lester B. Pearson International Airport is undergoing a comprehensive redevelopment program including a rebuild of the entire airport. The first stage of this Airport Development Program (ADP) is a 10-year plan consisting of four major projects, including the construction of a 12,600-space parking garage. The garage, whose footprint is the size of more than nine football fields, is currently under construction and will provide roughly 9,100 parking spaces upon completion of the first phase of construction.
After the third and final stage of the parking garage construction is complete, the garage will stand eight levels high (as tall as the new terminal replacing the aging Terminals 1 and 2) and will be equipped with four moving pedestrian walkways, 11 passenger elevators, one passenger/freight elevator, six escalators and higher ceilings to accommodate utility vehicles with racks.
The ADP also includes construction of a new passenger terminal; airside improvements including the addition of two runways; relocated and expanded cargo facilities; and the expansion and relocation of Terminal 3 and other ancillary support services. The Master Plan, which has a scope of 20 years (2000-2020), concludes with 'The Ultimate Plan': a single six-pier terminal and twin parking garages, the replacement of Terminal 3, and accommodations for capacity of up to 55 million passengers.
Included in the project will be a traffic coating system applied to the parking garage to shield it from moisture intrusion and chloride/chemical deterioration. Approximately 2.627 million square feet of coating system will be used on this cast-in-place concrete structure. The coating is supported by a five-year bonded warranty and is a 100 percent solids, solvent-free base coating offering waterproofing and crack-bridging properties. It is being supplied by Watson Bowman Acme Corp.
The contract for the project is a joint venture between Structural Contracting Ltd. (SCL) and Underground Services Ltd. General Manager of SCL, Tony Paglia, comments on being part of such a monumental project: "Contributing to a part of what will be history is a feeling of personal satisfaction and pride." Frank Miceli is the Manager of the Construction Garage Project for Terminal Development for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which is the not-for-profit corporation that manages the airport. Frank comments that during the rebuild of the ADP, operations are continuing at full capacity throughout the entire airport.