Asphalt resurfacing at Miami International Airport

Improvements worth US$30 million are being carried out at Miami International Airport. The work includes runway resurfacing with specialist contractors having been brought in to handle the project. This is a busy facility handling some 34 million passengers/year and the work is being carried out over a period of 454 days in all, starting in September 2009 and due to finish in December 2010. The focus of attention is the upgrade to the airport's second longest runway, 8R 26L as well as the adjoining M and N
February 8, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
Paving has been carried out on the second longest runway at Miami International Airport using Terex paving equipment

Improvements worth US$30 million are being carried out at Miami International Airport. The work includes runway resurfacing with specialist contractors having been brought in to handle the project.

This is a busy facility handling some 34 million passengers/year and the work is being carried out over a period of 454 days in all, starting in September 2009 and due to finish in December 2010. The focus of attention is the upgrade to the airport's second longest runway, 8R 26L as well as the adjoining M and N taxiways, while the work also includes new lighting.

While a significant percentage of large US airports now feature concrete runways, the authorities at the Miami Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) have opted to use asphalt. According to MDAD the asphalt runway structure has withstood the climate and structural loads exerted by large passenger and freight aircraft using the airport. The reason for the upgrade is to replace the runway surfaces, which are showing the effects of rutting and oxidation caused by the heavy traffic load since the last resurfacing work carried out in the early 1990s.

The runway work is being carried out in seven phases and includes milling the existing surface of sections of the 3km long by 61m wide runway. This required milling to different depths ranging from 6.35-127mm, depending on the specific need at each stage. However the aim of the work as to allow for at least 76mm of new asphalt to be laid along the centre of the runway. This work has been carried out in a tight time-frame to reduce the delays to aircraft lights. Another part of the airport needing repair is a pad where the M, N, P and Q taxiways converge for the runways. This area had been repaired frequently, so MDAD opted to have the construction crews tackle the pad while runway 8R 26L was closed for repairs.

The pad area was excavated and the sub-base was then replaced and capped with polymer-modified asphalt, to cope with the large volumes of aircraft traffic. Two plants supplied the asphalt, with a batch facility close to the airport supplying most of the material backed up by plant located at a quarry site in the vicinity.

Contractor General Asphalt has carried out much of the surfacing using two 1222 Terex CR452 pavers with 3m screeds, one of which was purchased for this project while a CR352L paver with a 2.4m screed was used to pave the runway shoulders and connectors. In all over 72,500tonnes of asphalt were laid, with compaction carried out by an array of 172 Bomag, 206 Dynapac and Hypac machines to a specification of 96.3% across the mat and 93.3% at joints. The paving work was completed successfully, although minor delays arose from unforseen problems and the airport upgrade looks set to make its completion target at the end of this year.

Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Redevelopments at southern Polish airports
    August 21, 2013
    Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in the south-east of Poland is now benefiting from a new taxiway constructed over a 50-month period and costing some €22.5 million. The work was required as the airport needs to increase capacity to cope with growing passenger traffic. The main portion of the project was for the construction of a 3km long taxiway, which lies parallel to the airport’s main runway. This taxiway now allows aircraft to manoeuvre away from the single runway and free up capacity for take-offs and land
    Read More
  • Speedy airport upgrade
    February 15, 2012
    Increases in flight numbers from the Frankfurt Hahn airport have resulted in necessary improvements to the facility, including new runway surfaces. The former German military airbase has been used as a civilian airport since 1993 but is now Germany's fifth largest air cargo hub and handles some 40,000 flights/year.
    Read More
  • Major upgrade for Chicago O’Hare Airport
    August 14, 2015
    Internationally, airports are being upgraded and expanded to increase capacity and safety – Mike Woof writes. All around the world, airports are being expanded and upgraded, both to cope with massive increases in passenger numbers and also to handle larger aircraft. Runways have to be rebuilt with stronger structures and surfaces to handle greater air traffic volumes as well as increased loads from larger aeroplanes. Building airport runways, however, poses many challenges for construction crews. Paving qua
    Read More
  • Dual layer, hot to hot paving at German airport
    August 18, 2015
    An airport in Germany has seen the use of very innovative asphalt paving techniques, with the use of dual-layer, hot-to-hot working. The method was used to meet a very tight schedule for the runway rebuilding work, while also delivering the high quality required. Two InLine Pave trains from Vögele were used at Rostock-Laage Airport to lay a new surface and binder course. The operation was innovative as the process used both hot-to-hot, echelon paving as well as dual layer, hot-on-hot working. Using this
    Read More

Highlighted Content