By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa International Airport celebrated a big construction milestone on Friday as the first section of the new air traffic control tower cab was lifted into place.
“We’re out here today setting the steel for the air traffic control tower, what we call module one,” explained Matt Croll, the Senior Project Manager with Flintco. “All the steel for this project was prebuilt on the ground into four different sections that’ll be set in place. Today is the first one that we’ll be setting and then we’ll be doing a lot of welding work after the fact for a couple weeks and then pour in the slab on deck to lock everything in. Then, we’ll be able to proceed with the next three modules.”
Croll said it’ll take some time for crews to finish the installation of the first module.
“It’ll take all day for us to get it secured in a place to where we can actually remove the crane off of it. Then there will be a lot of detail work after the fact for multiple days to lock it in, but to be able to remove the crane there’s a certain bracing, critical bracing, that they have to weld off before they can pull it.”
Croll explained the type of equipment that’ll eventually be placed in this area of the control tower.
“In that particular section right there, that’s what they call the electronic level, so most of the switch gear and all the components for the FAA live in that level that basically go and feed up to the control cab section.”
The new air traffic control tower will be around 100 feet taller than the airport’s existing tower.
Croll said accounting for recent weather delays, the construction project is still on track.
