PHX Sky Train Stations

The PHX Sky Train project was the airport’s answer to connecting key airport facilities to the nation’s 11th busiest airports. At the 44th Street Terminal, the Train (an automated people mover) connects to the city’s Light Rail which brings in passengers from Tempe and West/ Downtown Phoenix and directly connects them to the airport. The East Economy Lot (EEL) Station connected one of the airport’s largest parking structures to the airport. With passengers flowing from both the 44th Street and EEL Stations, the 3rd Train Terminal brought these passengers directly into PHX Sky Harbor’s busiest Terminal, T4. This project significantly reduced local roadway congestion and used sustainable design and construction methods and earned a LEED Gold designation.

PHX Sky Harbor’s new signage standard was to be introduced in this project. The new sign standard was contemporary, thin in profile and used LEDs to internally light many of the sign types. CSB was contracted by Hensel Phelps to aid in design, fabricate and install all of the exterior and interior signage for the three train terminals.

Some challenges of the project were:

• Design intent drawings were provided to CSB and many sign types needed to be further developed as we prototyped the new sign standard. Through this process, CSB developed and designed much of the detail of the signs you see throughout the airport today. Several sign designs were value-engineered in order to meet the budget.
• Variety of sign types—the sign types on this contract varied greatly from custom interior LED illuminated hanging wayfinding signs to customer ADA signs to a large illuminated reverse channel logo spanning over 24ft across 6 lanes of busy street. CSB had to understand each type’s fabrication and installation issues.
• Installation issues – the placement of many of the signs was finalized late in the project and CSB worked in conjunction with Hensel Phelps and other subcontractors to place the support infrastructure “after the fact”. Many situations needed to be solved in the field. For the exterior signage, we, with our engineer designed and installed a wind load method using cables on a 45-degree angle that anchored both ends of the signs and were attached to structure in the ceiling. In two specific locations, we had to install two of the large hanging signs at the 44th Street Station just in front of a 45ft tall glass curtain wall. In addition, they installed an elaborate LED Art ceiling. Both conditions prevented the use of the cable bracing design. CSB proposed and developed custom brackets that went through a seam in the glass curtain wall and attached to the tube steel structure supporting the curtain wall in order to make the installation possible.
• A laydown yard that was miles away created the need for good communication and coordination among us, Hensel Phelps, and the other subcontractors on the project.
  • Messaging was found to be incorrect on the original documents and CSB made placement maps with the messages boxes “placed” at actual locations on the set of plans and originated the correctly so that the owner and CSB could easily proof the project and catch many mistakes before going into fabrication.
• Temporary signage had to be put in place within T4 to cover up the new permanent messages that would direct airport passengers to the train. The temporary panels were all removed in one night so that the permanent messages with the wayfinding to the Train and Buses were reveled at the moment the Train opened for business in the morning. This situation called for a well-designed temporary cover up, which would remain in place but be easily removed as that the removal had to be easy and quick and leave no residue.

The PHX Sky Train project was CSB largest job to-date and provided us with the opportunity to let our fabrication, value engineering, install coordination, and problem-solving skills shine.