The terminal expansion project at Southwest Florida International Airport will cost at least $135 million more than the original budget of $331 million and will be completed about three years later than planned, according to an email to the port authority management by a retiring manager.

The Lee County Port Authority, which manages RSW and Page Field and its real estate holdings, there have been at least four resignations at the senior management level this year.

Harbor Aauthority Eexecutive DDirector Steven Hennigan has rejected Interview requests since his appointment to the position on July 30 by the Board of County Commissioners, which also serves as Commissioners of the Port Authority.

At 9:30 am September 5 at the Airport Training and Conference Center, 15924 Air Cargo Lane, commissioners are expected to consider approving an updated budget for the separate Terminal E construction project, totaling just over $1 billion, Port Authority documents show. Additionally, Commissioners will consider awarding a $28.2 million contract to engineering and consulting firm Atkins Realis for the same project.T.

In May, Atkins promised the Port Authority $3.3 million to cover its losses from the terminal expansion project, and the commissioners officially accepted that commitment.

The terminal extension and The total cost of building new terminals will be about $1.5 billion. The funding will not come from property taxes. The majority of the funds will come from general aviation bonds, which are paid for with fees collected from travelers, but state and federal grants are also part of the funding.

An Aug. 5 WINK News report on departing Port Authority employees and the delayed terminal expansion project prompted one employee to email Port Authority leaders a list of his grievances. Project MManager Tony Bonucci wrote in the email that he was bothered by the WINK report because the port authority blamed him for the project’s delays and time overruns.

On 6 August Bonucci sent the email, Oreceived by Gulf Coast Business and WINK News through a public records request, to eight port authority executives.

“We all know that Manhattan (the contractor) told you in a meeting that we would go over budget by $135 million and delay a three-year project by three years,” Bonucci wrote. “Then I felt the need to leave because you were taking this project in a certain direction and I wanted to protect my reputation that I had built up over 45 years of work. I handed in my resignation with five weeks’ notice and you do this. This is the most despicable thing I have seen in 67 years of my life. You should be ashamed of yourselves. 2 Minutes, you have destroyed a 45-year career that I worked so hard for. Everyone who has seen this report says it looks like I was fired and I am responsible for the delay, which obviously had nothing to do with me. I know I cannot rely on you to make this right, so I will seek legal advice to complete and correct Story on the street.”

Bonucci declined to comment.

Former airport director Ben Siegel, DDirector of PReal estate and Riit MManagement Ed Moran, Risk and IInsurance MManager Trevor Dean and Bonucci respectively resigned this year after working for nearly a century on an airport that opened in 1982, was rebuilt in 2005 and whose terminal expansion was supposed to be completed this fall. The latest project has instead stalled.

Moran’s resignation letter states: “Personnel issues and a number of management changes have led me to conclude that it is time to pursue my career elsewhere.”

The biggest problem with the expansion project, according to Bonucci’s email, was Steel beams ordered by subcontractor Atkins.

“We all know that Atkins has over 1,400 steel corrections, which resulted in over 11 months of redesign and made the project a nightmare,” Bonucci wrote. “We all know I was the one who discovered the defective steel connections that would have caused the building to collapse that night (according to your engineers), but instead we removed weight and supported the steel so the building did not collapse. I discovered so many errors that I should not have noticed.”

Bonucci also wrote: “For example, in September, I said to Cto lose the project until 100% of the corrected plans have been submitted to be financially responsible and TSettle all surpluses. This is only a small percentage of recommendations that were given but never followed. My annual reviews were all excellent. I was never told I was doing something wrong. Ia fact, I was always told how lucky they were to have me on the team. In fact, I was often thanked for staying on the project. I was never put in the Pproject Ssenior MManagement meetings where you continued to make the wrong decisions about how to move the project forward.”

Port Authority CThief CCommunication and Mmarketing Oofficer Vicki Moreland sent a statement by email 26.08. Specification, “The designers work with the CEdification MManager on the best ways to achieve changes for Phase 1 of the Terminal Expansion Project. Once this is complete, we will approach the Port Commission Board to have any budget and schedule adjustments approved.”

A report from Manhattan to the Port Authority on April 10 detailed some of the construction problems. The engineers estimate 189 Notice of changeN Changes issued by the design team along with input from the Port Authority.

“The main concerns are structural delays and design deficiencies,” said Manhattan. “The critical path schedule has been affected by the impending integration of the (Note on the changes). … Subcontractor labor will be a problem as contractors demobilize and downsize their teams, whileDesign continues. This will be a challenge when work on the critical path resumes.”

Problems with airport infrastructure projects are occurring across the country, said Paul Bowers, editor of Improving the airport Trade magazine, due to excessive demand for engineering, design and construction companies and a shortage of labor in all related fields.

“We all want to travel,” Bowers said.OMost of us do. But we want to do it safely, and we want to do it in facilities that look good and do what they promise.

“Airports are under a lot of pressure due to growth. We have unprecedented numbers of passengers travelling through airports. There is a need for upgrades to facilities, runways and terminals. Fortunately, there is money to fund these. There is a lot of pressure to perform to design the infrastructure to meet demand not only today, but also tomorrow., There is strong competition for resources to meet the airport’s growth needs. The consulting firms and architectural offices are overloaded. They themselves have problems hiring enough people.”

RSW carried 677,137 passengers in July, the most recent monthly record Data available. That was the second-best July in the airport’s 42-year history. Similar demand is being seen at other airports across the country, Bowers said.

“It’s not a perfect world,” Bowers said of the delays and cost overruns. “This isn’t the only airport where this happens, by the way.”