ACPA Concrete Pavement Progress - Quarter 3, 2021

www.acpa.org Quarter 3, 2021 17 WHEN AN 8-INCH CONCRETE TAXIWAY WAS FIRST BUILT AT WHAT IS NOW DONALDSON FIELD, it is likely that no one expected the pavement to still be in service 60 to 80 years later. Donaldson Field, which is part of the South Caro- lina Technology & Aviation Center, was built in 1942 as Greenville Army Air Base, then was renamed Donaldson Air Force Base in 1951. The basewas decommissioned in 1962 and returned to the city and county. Over the years the technology and aviation center has become home to a number of companies, including Lockheed-Martin. Lockheed-Martin currentlymaintains and refur- bishes the legendary Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft and Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft at Donaldson Center and is about to expand to also work on the F-16 fighter jet. As part of this expansion, Hercules Way, the road leading to the Lockheed-Martin’s facility was slated to be improved by Greenville County. Hercules Way is the 8-in. concrete taxiway that was converted to a road after base decommission- ing. The original concrete pavement is estimated to be 60 to 80 years old and had been overlaid with a couple of inches of asphalt at some point. The road handles employee traffic as well as heavy truck traffic delivering materials to the Lockheed-Martin facility. “Hercules Way’s original concrete pavement was overlaid with 1 ½ inches of asphalt that had com- pletely oxidized,” says Terry Bragg, programman- ager and engineer of record for the project and director of operations for CoTransCo, whichman- ages road projects in Greenville County in South Carolina. “We looked at rubblizing the existing road to use it as the base for the new road but the total projected cost of $1.3 million was too high.” Bragg asked Andrew M. Johnson, PhD, PE, the pavement design engineer at the Southeast Ce- ment Promotion Association to help them evalu- ate the existing, 70-year-old+ concrete as a base for the new road. In addition to confirming that the concrete could serve as a base for the new roadwithminimal repair, Johnson also suggested roller-compacted concrete (RCC) as an option to save costs and time. H E R C U L E S W A Y G E T S A N U P G R A D E continues on page 18 » RCC and 60+ Concrete Pavement Team Up Primary access road for aerospace company gets an upgrade By Sheryl S. Jackson