Orange County Branch Newsletter

December 2014

TTG

ASCE OC Transportation Technical Group - Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) Tour


On September 9, 2014, the ASCE OC Transportation Technical Group (TTG), in conjunction with the City of Anaheim and its design and construction management partners, Parsons Brinckerhoff and STV, toured the nearly completed Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), located just off the SR 57 freeway, in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle.  Hosting the tour was Michael McAlpine, Construction Manager, STV, along with Samuel Sims, Project Director, Parsons Brinckerhoff.

From their website at www.articinfo.com/, Anaheim touts that the ARTIC facility, a 15.7 acre site, will support 10 modes of transportation within a 68,000 square foot, multi-level terminal, which includes an open air pedestrian bridge crossing over the railroad tracks. ARTIC has the potential to help transform the City of Anaheim and Orange County into globally recognized leaders for its transportation systems and the destinations it serves. ARTIC will enhance mobility choices to events and destination centers including The Anaheim Resort, Angels Stadium of Anaheim, and Honda Center, and can lead to a reduction of miles traveled on freeways and local streets, resulting in less air pollution and green house gas emissions.

ARTIC will connect to existing Metrolink, Amtrak and OCTA bus services, and will enable connectivity to emerging transit services including: Anaheim Rapid Connection (ARC), California High-Speed Rail, and California-Nevada Super Speed Train.  The future ARC link at ARTIC will serve The Anaheim Resort, the Platinum Triangle and the Anaheim Convention Center.

The ARTIC facility is not all about transit improvements, however.  The facility was designed to meet LEED Platinum certification qualifications, and includes design components that will reduce energy consumption up to 50% through innovative materials and applications that meet or exceed Title 24 requirements as compared to standard building construction practices.  ARTIC will also reduce potable water consumption up to 30-55% compared to standard building construction practices through new indoor/outdoor water conservation fixtures and drought tolerant landscaping.  The facility will also reduce storm water run off up to 50% as compared to pre-site conditions, and reduce up to 80% construction waste and up to 75% operational waste reductions through recycling efforts.

ARTIC will include a:

  • Bus facility with 14 bus bays, four layover bays, and a shuttle drop off area
  • Civic plaza space in front of and surrounding the terminal building
  • Retail space inside and outside of the terminal building
  • Bus / shuttle / taxi / kiss & ride pick-up and drop-off areas
  • Track work and platforms
  • Pedestrian under/or over-crossings
  • 1,082 parking spaces within three parking areas
  • Public art
  • Bicycle connection to the adjacent Santa Ana River Trail and on-site bicycle parking amenities

Our 3:00 pm tour began with a series of professionally prepared video vignettes of the various phases of construction, including interviews with various team members and time lapse photography of the milestone components of the construction to date—time critical removal and replacement of the rail bridges, fabrication of the tubular exoskeleton at a steel plant in Texas, erection of those members, and installation of the thin pneumatically controlled outer skin.

From there, we toured the nearly completed facility itself, entering the iconic structure from its northerly end, and immediately gazed upward 120’ to the tubular framing that supports the building.  The concrete and structural elements within the building are nearly complete, with installation of the remaining structural, HVAC equipment and living surfaces underway.    We then walked up a few flights of stairs and gazed out at the  large open area within the structure, from the mezzanine, where the Honda Center is just a short distance away.  We crossed over the train tracks on the pedestrian bridge, and then completed our tour of the facility by returning to the front of the structure.

Some interesting tidbits we learned during the tour included that the installation of the outer shell components was completed by construction workers with a mountain climbing specialty, due to the challenges of the geometrics of the structure. The structural tubing components, with no two ribs matching within the entire structure, were fabricated to ¼ inch tolerances and constructed using methods that needed to be devised just for this project, which is another way of saying that it took out of the box thinking to get it done.  Even while discovering a previously unknown roadway that bisected the site as well as uncharted construction debris, the facility has been constructed with less than 5% of contract change orders, truly remarkable, considering its uniqueness.  The structural topping out ceremony included the traditional evergreen tree (a Swedish custom), and a broom, to signify no lost time injuries during erection, a phenomenal accomplishment.

All participants greatly enjoyed their tour of the ARTIC facility and are looking forward to its completion and opening to the public later this year.  Our thanks to the City and its design and construction partners for this exceptional educational tour.