Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT Airport) is one of the nation’s fastest-growing – and busiest – airports, recently eclipsing 53.4 million annual passengers, a pre-pandemic record. To continue to meet the growing demand, CLT is undergoing a major expansion program for its main terminal lobby, a 24-gate concourse addition and other future expansions—including an upgraded sewer system.
STV’s award-winning design included approximately 2,300 linear feet of new sanitary gravity sewers to convey sewage to the existing Charlotte Water (CLTWater) Coffey Creek sewer interceptor. The firm’s design integrated seven trenchless crossings through existing roadways, parking lots and the new passenger access deck in the airport’s main terminal. Key components include a 300-foot, 48-inch diameter steel casing 35 feet deep that now links to the existing interceptor and a bored casing threaded between piles of an existing retaining wall. Each of these complex installations were completed without disrupting airfield or aircraft activity.
STV collaborated with CLT Airport and CLTWater to provide sewer modeling, design, permitting and construction administration while navigating continuous traffic control and terminal maintenance access, as well as FAA control tower access—all within the airport’s high-traffic zones.
4.3 million
gallons of water per passenger
40 feet
sewer line depth below active airfield
60%
estimated passenger traffic increase
