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Quarter 1, 2017
9
THE PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK
and New
Jersey is no stranger to airfield pavement reha-
bilitation and reconstruction. With five airports
that encompass an area that is 80 percent the size
of Manhattan, the Port Authority is responsible
for maintaining 285 miles of pavement—189
miles of roadway, 74 miles of taxiways and 25
miles of runway.
Unlike many agencies, the Port Authority does
not rely on outside consultants to plan and design
runway pavement projects. All civil engineering
work was done in-house, with staff engineers
providing the design, plans, specifications and
construction administration for the project, says
Guy Zummo, P. E., chief civil engineer for the
Port Authority. “Airfield design and construction
is one of our specialties,” he points out.
One of themost recent airport projects completed
by the Port Authority was the reconstruction of
Runway 4L-22R at John F. KennedyAirport (JFK).
“We took the existing 150-foot wide asphalt run-
way and expanded it to a 200-foot wide runway,
whichmeets the Federal AviationAdministration
(FAA) requirement to handle Group VI aircraft,”
explains Zummo.
After a life cycle cost analysis, engineers selected
an 18-inch concrete overlay over asphalt to re-
construct the runway. Selection of concrete and
design of a 50-year pavement was an important
strategic decision, says Zummo. “With 1,300 op-
erations (landings and departures) at the airport
each day, there is a tremendous demand for all
four runways to be operational,” he says. “We
wanted to get in and out with the reconstruc-
tion quickly, and not come back for repairs or
rehabilitation for many years.”
The project was built in three stages to allow JFK’s
other three runways to remain operational—with
construction beginning in 2014 and completed
in September 2015.
Concrete Overlay Gives JFK Airpor t
a 50-Year Runway Pavement
By Sheryl S. Jackson
J FK A I RPORT RUNWAY
continues »
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