CMT served as a strategic partner to WSP in facilitating a Master Plan Update for the St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). As a trusted advisor to STL for years, CMT brought to the planning process an intimate understanding of the airport’s infrastructure, FAA coordination history, and funding strategies – insights that informed key planning decisions along the way.

The STL Master Plan Update was driven by enhancing efficiency, safety, and the passenger experience. This vision was balanced with FAA’s priority for compliance with new airfield geometry standards. Through a data-driven approach and collaborative stakeholder engagement, the team developed and refined six airfield concepts incorporating Safety Management System (SMS) and Safety Risk Assessment (SRA) priorities. The effort also included a comprehensive survey and data capture of critical safety data and the completion of an AGIS-compliant database.

Central to the planning process was the analysis and determination to replace STL’s two aging terminals with a single new terminal; this consolidation approach was ultimately selected to facilitate safer and more efficient landside transportation improvements, including a new ground transportation center to enhance multimodal access. To support the complex transition from two terminals to one, the plan outlined an intentionally phased process.

Furthermore, CMT led airfield demand/capacity modeling to inform the ultimate airfield configuration for new exit taxiway locations while providing the optimum efficiencies for airlines based on the new terminal configuration. This also informed a new aircraft deicing strategy to optimize operations while consolidating deicing activities to two primary locations.

The planning effort benefited from a robust and diverse stakeholder engagement process to support the decision-making process and build consensus regionally for what is a $3 billion capital program.

The STL Master Plan Update commenced in 2020 and was completed on schedule in October 2022. Armed with broad community and business support for – as well as FAA acceptance of – the Master Plan/ALP, STL moved toward implementation, retaining the consulting team for Advanced Planning, pre-NEPA, and NEPA processing services. Environmental assessments for the Consolidated Terminal and the West Airfield Programs, facilitated by CMT, were also cleared by the FAA in 2024.