Dive brief:
- Red tape and staffing shortages have delayed construction of a new $300 million concourse at Jacksonville International Airport in Florida, Jacksonville Aviation Authority spokesman Greg Willis confirmed to Construction Dive.
- The JAA planned to start work later this year and complete work on Concourse B in 2025. The authority now expects work to begin in the first quarter of 2024 and be completed by the end of 2026.
- Because of environmental assessments and staffing shortages at the Federal Aviation Administration, JAA has faced delays in the approvals needed to begin construction, Willis told Construction Dive in an email. There is no set date for the work to begin.
Diving knowledge:
The JAA did not provide details on what types of environmental reviews the project is subject to.
Jacobs Engineering will serve as the general contractor about the Concourse B effort, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. The JAA also selected Balfour Beatty to purchase steel for the project, with a contract that includes a $24.57 million steel package for the new concourse and $2.6 million for the security checkpoint renovation , according to the Jacksonville Daily Record.
In a meeting with the authority’s board’s Audit and Finance Committee on September 15, JAA CFO Ross Jones said Phase 1 of the project was on schedule, but the phases 2 and 3 won’t begin until the summer of 2024, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported.
JAA had previously postponed work on Concourse B, designed to have six doors, to 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the airport has two concourses with a total of 20 gates.
