Relieving congestion at Reid International Airport is coming in the form of Ivanpah airport or formally known as the Southern Nevada Supplemental Airport (SNSA). Located just 30 miles down Interstate 15, the 5,000-acre site is located between Jean and Primm in the Ivanpah Valley. Placed on a portion of the Roach Lake dry lakebed, the proposed site is currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management and isolated private and commercial land holdings. The site is bordered on the east by the Union Pacific Railroad, the north and south by Jean and Primm, and contains an existing power station on the southeast corner of the Noise Compatibility Area.
Planned Airport facilities include two runways, associated taxiways, apron areas, passenger terminals and concourses, automobile parking facilities, airline and cargo storage areas, an Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT), access roads, and other appurtenant facilities.
Geotechnical Considerations
The airport platform will require cuts and fills of the existing grade on the order of 15 feet to create a working airport platform and to raise the runway and support structures up out of the flood plain of the existing playa. Retention facilities, upstream, will be required to manage the storm water. Soils generated from the excavation of proposed retention facilities may be imported to the playa and used as the structural fill in the airport platform.
Some of the geotechnical related considerations associated with constructing an airport in an existing playa include storm water management, settlement, expansive and/or collapsible soils, borrow sources, suitable soils, infiltration, slope stability, and seepage.
GES’ Role
GES has been working with Clark County Department of Aviation and the design team in support of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). GES is responsible for providing geotechnical related information in collaboration with the design team in support of the EIS. GES has reviewed available and published geotechnical and geologic information and provided summaries of our findings related to potential geotechnical considerations, settlement, fill suitability, infiltration rates, etc.
Final design is anticipated to begin, once a favorable Record of Decision (ROD) has been issued for the project, with construction beginning after 2030.