Lincoln Airport Runway 17/35

Benesch completed a preliminary study that evaluated the condition of the existing runway pavement. It was determined that the south 4,000 feet of the runway had severe cracking, stripping of the asphalt binder and separation between the various asphalt lifts. There were also signs of alkali-silica reactivity (ASR) deterioration, which caused cracking in the surface and areas of spalling on the north 1,800 feet of concrete pavement.

After close coordination with the Lincoln Airport and Federal Aviation Administration Central Region ADO, the project was designed. The project will consist of milling and overlaying all the pavement on the south 4,000 feet to match the existing runway profile. All the underlying concrete will be repaired with random panel replacement and partial depth repair for spall areas and then will receive new asphalt overlay tapers. Signs of heaving due to years of expansion and ASR will be fixed with new concrete and expansion joint material. These improvements will allow for subdrains to be placed along the edges of the runway at the connecting taxiways to drain water that may be trapped.

Furthermore, the north 1,800 feet of concrete pavement later showed signs of ASR and received a half-inch surface mill to remove the surface cracking. The concrete pavement repair consisted of replacing random panels and partial depth repair and new asphalt to fill all wider cracks. All concrete pavement with less than 2.5 inches of asphalt overlay had the underlying joints surveyed and new joints sealed in the asphalt over the existing joints. All joints now have reflective cracking – a method that will control the cracks and require less crack repair maintenance in the future.

The project also consisted of edge drains for the north 1,800 feet, new runway LED MITL edge lights, electrical vault upgrades, new pavement markings, shoulder grading, erosion control measures and seeding.