Building a New Airport within an Existing Airport
W. Charles Greer, Jr., P.E., FASCE
Law Engineering, MACTEC, and AMEC Retired // University of Illinois
Abstract
In 1925, the City of Atlanta leased an abandoned racetrack and committed to building an airport. By 2024, ATL had become the world’s busiest airport, serving 108 million passengers and nearly 800,000 aircraft operations. In 1964, the Atlanta Region Metropolitan Planning Commission initiated planning studies for the mid-field terminal concept. Projects that impacted the mid-field terminal concept which was later termed Central Passenger Terminal Complex (CPTC) began in the late 1960’s and included:
- Reconstruction of Runway 8-26 (now 8R-26L) in 40 days and nights in 1969
- Construction of a second south runway (9R-27L) in 1972
- Reconstruction of the other south runway (9L-27R) in 1974, much of which remains in service
- Enclosure of the Flint River in an 18’ diameter concrete conduit in 1975, including a tunnel 18’ beneath an active runway and taxiway
- Construction of the CPTC structures starting in 1977 through 1980, including a 1.5-mile Automated People Mover (APM) system 40’ beneath the ground surface with groundwater at a depth of just 5’
Today, the airport includes more than 50 million sq ft (1000+ acres) of concrete pavement for airside operations. Charlie will present his experience with several early key projects that made CPTC possible.
Tunnel (18' Diameter) with Crown 18' beneath active Runway (40-day Wonder) and active Taxiway at ATL --- 1975
Biography
W. Charles (Charlie) Greer Jr. spent 42-years with Law Engineering, MACTEC, and AMEC (now WSP) in Atlanta, retiring in 2015 as Director of Engineering. He holds BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois and is a registered PE in Georgia and Florida.
His professional awards include:
- Engineer of the Year in Georgia, GSPE 1987
- Honorary Member, International Society for Concrete Pavements, ISCP 2014
- Robert J Horonjeff Award, ASCE, 2016
- Lifetime Achievement Award, GSPE 2021
Greer has 100+ technical presentations/publications to national/international technical groups. Since 2016, he has served as an Adjunct Lecturer in CEE at the University of Illinois, teaching Case Histories in Infrastructure Engineering to students around the world. He has also taught graduate courses in Maintenance Management of Built Assets in Facilities Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology and concrete classes at the University of Georgia.
He has worked on a broad range of engineering projects around the world. Notable work includes relocating the 10 million pounds, 200’ tall Cape Hatteras Lighthouse across 2900’ of loose dune sand and transporting two 2.1‑million‑pound nuclear reactor pressure vessels over 46 miles of Tennessee roadways using a 384‑tire trailer system.