May 2009 Vol. 12 No. 5

 Trains, cars and planes: Building the new airport garage in San Jose

There will be 1.8 million square feet of parking in the new garage.

The Mineta San Jose International Airport at San Jose, California, is currently in the middle of a comprehensive $1.3 billion modernization program. Phase 1 of the plan includes the new Terminal B with 12 gates to replace the aging Terminal C, which will be demolished. In the future, when airport activity grows, Phase 2 will expand Terminal B with the construction of a southern concourse that will mirror its newly finished North Concourse.

Terminal B is on schedule for completion in summer 2010. It wraps around the south end of the North Concourse, and will provide ticketing, baggage claim, security checkpoints and a state-of-the-art inline baggage screening system. The new terminal will connect with the existing International Arrivals Building and Terminal A, and will include new retail areas, restaurants, comfortable waiting areas and lots of natural lighting.

Enrique Mondragon, Local 217.

Fabio Vega, Local 505.

Superintendent Bill Battrell, Local 405.

Long-term transit plans call for the new terminal to have a connection to the VTA light rail system or to BART, but the current program includes a major new parking garage and rental car center- a state-of-the-art facility being completed by South Bay union carpenters.

Right: Brandon Bonnifield, Local 405 (left), and Robert Zamora, Local 405 (right).

Superintendent Tom Prosser, Local 405.

Christopher Osorio, Local 505 (left); and Gary Leslie, Local 405 (right).

Bernardo Rosales, Local 40.

The new consolidated rental car and parking garage is a 3,350-space, 1.8 million square foot facility being built across the roadway from Terminal B. It will have 350 ground-level spaces for short-term public parking and 3,000 spaces for car rental companies. Carpenters have faced some interesting and unusual challenges in the new structure. The building includes gas pumps and a carwash on-site, one of only three such facilities in the country. The new facility is expected to be so efficient that cars will be available for rental within 15 minutes of being returned.

Airport improvements also include a widened and straightened roadway system with two new bridges to improve traffic flow and customer access.

Carlos Martinez, Local 405.

Mark Olson, Local 405 (left), and Bobby Luiz, Local 713 (right).

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