![]() Metal braces stapled up the walls of the vehicle ramps resemble oversize stitches. Other signs of the danger López Obrador mentioned in his press conference abound at the terminal. “Even this right here was level with the floor before the pandemic,” he said, pointing to a smaller ramp about a foot in height connecting the floor to the landing of the makeshift metal ramp that allows access between the two levels. Even after being modified to fit the sinking structures at Terminal 2, a pipe continues to be pulled up from the concrete in which it was laid. He and others working at the time of the September 2017 earthquake that rocked the terminal had been forced to hand over their phones to ensure they deleted all photos and videos of how the event affected the structures, the employee said.Ī vertical distance of nearly four feet now separates the floor of the airport terminal and the ground of the bus terminal. “When I started working here eight and a half years ago, there was only one step between these two levels, now there are four,” said one airport employee who preferred not to give his name out of fear of retaliation from management. ![]() While the ramps between the entrances and the pick-up area for taxis and private vehicles are modest and may not stand out to those in a hurry, passengers headed to the adjoining bus station get a clear view of how the terminal has shifted since inauguration day. The Band-Aid solutions of which Gómez spoke are quite apparent at Terminal 2. A jagged crack separates the upper street level and ramp structures at the Terminal 2 rotunda. ICA did not immediately respond to Courthouse News’ request for comment. "That may tell us something about where the problem came from," said Gómez. Unlike Terminal 1, a private sector initiative completed in 1958, Terminal 2 was erected as a public work, with a government contract awarded to ICA. The company that won the government contract to build it didn’t lay enough foundations to support those kinds of buildings.”īegun during the presidency of Vicente Fox and inaugurated after his successor Felipe Calderón had already taken office, Terminal 2 was built by the Mexican construction firm ICA. “Any engineer should be able to see the problems presented by the subsoil. The problem, however, isn’t going anywhere and extreme measures may be required. Since its inauguration in November 2007, airport authorities have attempted to compensate for the disjointed sections of the terminal with ramps, metal sheets and other structural band-aids. The ground of the garden sunk several feet after the September 2017 opened up a sinkhole nearby. Passengers board cars near a spot where torn concrete and rebar reveal where a walkway in the rotund garden at Terminal 2 was once connected to the street level. It has been gradual, sinking around four to eight inches a year, and it was imperceptible up until now, when it can’t be hidden anymore,” he said. “There are parts of Terminal 2 that have sunk as far as three to four feet. ![]() “It may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t,” said Fernando Gómez Suárez, an independent airport infrastructure specialist. While some have accused López Obrador of attempting to shine a negative light on the Benito Juárez airport in order to improve the public’s opinion of the new airport on the Santa Lucía military base north of the capital, Wednesday’s announcement appears to be of substance. One possibility is to rebuild it.” Passengers at the Mexico City airport's Terminal 2 use makeshift ramps to move from the airport lobby to the bus terminal, the latter of which has sunk nearly four feet since the structure was built. “What we have to do is how to avoid a collapse and disasters. “In addition to the poor quality of the soil, they didn’t lay the proper foundations,” said López Obrador. Like much of Mexico City, Terminal 2 is sinking into the Earth. ![]() The airport was built on the dry lakebed of what was once Lake Texcoco, an area composed of loosely packed, clay-rich subsoils that present difficulties for architects and structural engineers. MEXICO CITY (CN) - Serious structural flaws threaten the viability of a terminal at the Mexico City International Airport and could require reinforcements or a total rebuild, according to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.Ī panel of experts has already evaluated the structures of Terminal 2 at Mexico City’s Benito Juárez International Airport and their conclusions will be released next week, the president said at his morning press conference Wednesday.
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