Project

Taxiway Rehabilitation

We provided airfield design and construction phase services for the rehabilitation of Taxiway F at Kansas City International Airport (MCI), the primary parallel taxiway serving Runway 1R-19L. The project included removal and replacement of 123,000 square yards of 17-inch-thick portland cement concrete (PCC), full-depth construction of a new crossover taxiway, pavement geometry modifications to meet current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards, asphalt shoulder pavement rehabilitation, airfield lighting and signage improvements, earthwork, drainage improvements, and pavement markings.

The 9,500-foot-long by 75-foot-wide taxiway was experiencing widespread durability and pop-out distresses and needed significant rehabilitation or reconstruction. During the predesign stage of the adjacent Runway 1R-19L rehabilitation program, our team determined, through non-destructive testing and geotechnical investigation of existing site conditions, that the optimal way to improve the distressed taxiway would be removal and replacement of the PCC, allowing the underlying lean concrete base and other pavement layers to remain in place. This significantly reduced construction costs and shortened the construction duration.

Improving Project Outcomes

The FAA has tools and processes that, if utilized effectively, can streamline design efforts, reduce capital investment and shorten overall airfield construction duration. We developed multiple sponsor-requested Modification of Standards (MOS) submissions during design of the Taxiway F project and guided them to approval within FAA’s online Airports GIS system. The major MOS approved was a request to replace portions of the airfield pavement to match existing geometry, rather than implementing extreme changes necessary to bring the entire project up to current FAA geometry standards. Our team justified this MOS by modeling aircraft movements to show that minimum Taxiway Edge Safety Margins would be provided for the critical cargo aircraft flying into MCI. This MOS saved significant capital investment and shortened the project’s duration by several weeks.

All Airport Improvement Plan (AIP)-funded projects must be constructed to minimum FAA standards. During design production, the FAA was updating its standard construction specifications, and a new version of the advisory circular was to be released soon, providing more favorable construction specifications. Based on our team’s experience and history of effective enforcement of FAA standards, we were allowed to use the new version (10H) as the basis for the Taxiway F construction specifications. We were one of the first firms to implement the updated specifications.

Client

City of Kansas City, Missouri

Location

Kansas City International Airport

Region

Midwest

Services

Aviation Infrastructure

Stormwater Management

Industry

Aviation

Improvement Beyond Pavements

The primary stormwater drainage ditch for the southeast quadrant of the airfield ran parallel to Taxiway F. The outlets at the four stormwater pipes that flowed into this ditch experienced serious scour due to high outflow velocities and poor soil compaction. Airport maintenance teams found these areas problematic to maintain and mow, resulting in vegetation overgrowth that attracted wildlife. Our team analyzed the drainage area and developed solutions to repair the scoured areas, prevent future issues and eliminate the possibility of wildlife problems. The solutions included a combination of grouted rip-rap outfall stabilization, stormwater pipe slope adjustments to reduce outflow velocity, and PCC mow strips to ease maintenance. Our team also justified these improvements to the FAA as enhancements to airfield safety, enabling the sponsor to include this scope in the project as items eligible for FAA AIP funding.

Typical Challenges, Unique Solutions

The large scope of the Taxiway F project meant that funding for rehabilitation of the full length of the taxiway was potentially lacking. Our team packaged the project in two separate bid schedules, which allowed the FAA and the sponsor to select either schedule or the entire package based on actual available funding. Favorable bids were received, which enabled construction of the entire package under a single FAA grant.

Since Taxiway F is the primary parallel taxiway serving Runway 1R-19L, construction would affect arrivals and departures on that runway. The design team worked closely with the sponsor’s engineering department and airfield operations group, FAA Central Region staff, and FAA personnel in the MCI air traffic control tower to develop an optimized construction phasing plan. The plan incorporated:

FAA guidance
Consideration of anticipated weather conditions
Minimum object-free area requirements for specific critical aircraft using the runway
Construction activity durations
Contractor access and haul routes
Multiple staging and batch plant locations

The project’s Construction Safety and Phasing Plan (CSPP) that resulted from the collaborative effort allowed construction on Taxiway F to have a limited impact on the airport’s normal airfield operations.