Granite wins $52 million CMAR job to finish Tucson airport's $400 million-plus airfield overhaul
The Tucson Airport Authority picked Granite for a construction manager at risk contract worth about $52 million, the last project in its Airfield Safety Enhancement program at Tucson International Airport, the company said Nov. 4. Granite has built or won every project in the program.
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The job, called CMAR2, brings taxiways and connector taxiways up to current FAA commercial standards and moves and upgrades FAA navigation aids. Over 80,000 tons of aggregate and about 50,000 tons of asphalt, both to FAA specifications, will come from Granite's Swan facility. Preconstruction started in September, and Granite expects to finish in 2029. TAA chief executive Danette Bewley said the work so far has gone well but that more remains.
The airport authority prices the whole program at more than $400 million in 2023 dollars. Its core is the replacement of an 8,400-by-75-foot general aviation runway with an 11,000-by-150-foot parallel runway that can handle commercial, military and general aviation traffic. The authority says the current airfield meets FAA safety requirements, but the standards changed, and the new layout is meant to cut pilot confusion and runway incursions.
Earlier stages produced a new airfield lighting vault, started in November 2020, an end-around taxiway finished in December 2022 and a new outer Taxiway C finished in January 2025. The new runway, 12R/30L, is scheduled for 2027 if more FAA money arrives. After that the authority plans to rework runway 12L/30R, including moving its landing threshold and ILS glideslope, with reopening expected in 2028 or 2029, again subject to funding.
The authority takes no local tax money. It pays for the program with grants from the FAA, ADOT Aeronautics and the Arizona Air National Guard plus its own airport revenue.
Why it matters: Shows how one contractor with its own FAA-spec materials plant held an airfield program from the first package to the last. Southern Arizona airfield subs have work into 2029, but the authority's schedule moves with FAA grant timing.
Sources
- Airfield Safety Enhancement (ASE) ProgramTucson Airport Authority, Nov 4
- Granite Selected for $52 Million CMAR Contract on the Airfield Safety Enhancement (ASE) Program at the Tucson International AirportStock Titan (Business Wire release), Nov 4