Design and Construction of Runway 4L/22R and Associated Taxiways Alpha, Romeo and Quebec
LOCATION: Romulus, Michigan
CLIENT: Wayne County Airport Authority
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
CTI, as a sub-consultant and in partnership with RS&H, was responsible for providing subsurface soil investigation, corresponding soils laboratory testing and geotechnical design recommendations. Currently, CTI is providing construction inspection, oversight and materials testing during the construction phase. The objective of this project was to reconstruct runway 4L/22R and associated taxiways at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Wayne County, Michigan.
During the initial stages of the design process, CTI performed a base-wide geotechnical investigation consisting of over 180 soil borings along the runway and taxiways with over 800 soils laboratory tests. The project also included cores through existing pavement up to 17-inches in thickness, on over 25,000 lineal feet of existing runway and taxiway. Geotechnical analysis included the inspection and redesign of the existing underdrain system. As well as testing for pipe protection design and allowable bore pressure calculations for horizontal directional drill installation methods.
During the design process and prior to any excavation, an extensive subsurface utility investigation was conducted to properly identify and document all existing utilities potentially impacted by the project. All underground utilities were located via the use of as-built information in combination with utilizing ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic survey arrays and magnetometry locating equipment. The utilities were exposed by completing ‘soft dig’ exploratory excavations utilizing hydro-excavation equipment and a detailed existing utility map created for use in the design and construction.
CTI also performed analytical testing of excavated soils for determining proper off-site disposal options and beneficial re-use. Conduct extensive laboratory testing. Which includes performing Soil Index Testing, Soil Compaction testing with a Nuclear Density Gauge, Unconfined Compressive Strength tests, California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests, and resilient Modulus testing of asphalt cores.
In addition to CTI’s geotechnical investigation and design recommendations, the construction inspection and materials testing division is currently involved in quality assurance inspection and testing of reconstruction operations which include placement of 18 inches of aggregate base, 8 inches of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) and 17 inches of concrete pavement. In addition, CTI is also observing the placement of underdrains, the regrading or shoulders and high-speed turnarounds.