Clark Recognized with Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure Award for Digital Construction

Clark Construction Group has been named an award winner at the annual Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure Awards, a prestigious global competition program to highlight the exceptional work of software users to advance and promote infrastructure design, construction, and operations. Clark received the grand prize in the Digital Construction category for the 780-ft-long elevated pedestrian walkway at the Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport International Arrivals Facility (IAF) project. Clark is leading the design-build efforts for the project.

The rigorous competition, which is hosted by Bentley Systems, attracted 300 entries from more than 230 organizations representing 45 countries. Sixteen independent jury panels selected three finalists for each of the 19 categories. Since 2004, the program has honored over 4,600 of the world’s most outstanding infrastructure projects.

The most complex capital development program in the history of the 69-year-old Sea-Tac Airport, the new IAF will expand the airport’s capacity to serve the growing needs of the traveling public and enhance the international passenger experience. The project includes the primary IAF facility for baggage claim and customer processing, a new security corridor that will allow dual use of gates on Concourse A for incoming international and domestic flights, and the project’s signature feature – a massive, elevated feature pedestrian bridge.

The world’s longest pedestrian bridge over an active airport taxi lane, the expansive steel structure measures 780 feet long and has 85 feet of vertical clearance – enough room for wide-body aircraft, such as a Boeing 747 to travel underneath. In January 2020, Clark, working in close collaboration with the Port of Seattle and other key stakeholders, completed the highly complex operation of moving and hoisting the center span of the pedestrian walkway, which measures 320 feet (equivalent to the length of a football field) into place.

By leveraging BIM and reality modeling technology, Clark prefabricated the signature walkway off-site, transported the center span 3 miles through an active airport to the project location, and hoisted the 3-million-pound span into place. Clark linked the model with the construction schedule and developed a digital twin to fully visualize the construction sequencing. This enabled the Clark team to carefully examine every detail of this operation and safely install and fit the iconic walkway within three-eighths of an inch, ensuring a successful outcome.

To see all the winners of the 2021 Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure, visit https://clrk.cc/bentley-award-2021.

To learn more about the historic bridge move, watch the video below.