Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ)
Runway 14/32 Rehabilitation

Runway 14/32 is the air carrier runway for the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. The pavement for the runway was reaching the end of its design life as evidenced in the Pavement Condition Index. Additionally, the pavement exhibited evidence of delamination between layers in areas of the touchdown zones. Since this is the air carrier runway, the rehabilitation had to be done during off-peak, evening hours for the airport to remain open.

Significant design and construction elements and challenges addressed by engineers now with Hanson included:

• Runway closure times were too short (11:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.) for economical construction with conventional stringline grade control. To the maximum extent possible, grades were redesigned for consistency with laser grade control. This was done without increasing bituminous surface quantities. This was reported as the first use of laser grade control for night runway paving by a trade magazine.
• Cool temperatures and high humidity precluded conventional tack coat. A modified tack coat designated QRS-1 was used for the project. To our knowledge this was the first use of QRS-1 on airfield project. The project continues to perform well a decade later.
• During construction an incipient runway failure due to raveling of soil into joints of 50-year old pipe under the runway was detected. A fix was designed and constructed cutting through the active runway over a 5-day, round-the-clock period. During this time the runway was shortened, airline load factors were reduced, and aircraft took off over the active construction work.
• Advance milling and surface preparation were used to progress the project more rapidly. Extreme attention to detail permitted turbine aircraft to operate on milled surfaces prior to placing the first resurfacing course.

The project received the National Asphalt Paving Association First-Place Quality Award for Airfield Project.