Sitka Rock Gutierrez Airport 11-29 Runway Overlay

Location: Sitka, Alaska
Project Dates: 2013
Owner: State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Contract Amount: $11,000,000
Status: Complete

Project Details: This project consisted of lengthening the runway 700 feet, extensive cold planing of existing pavement, and overlaying the entire runway surface with asphalt. The project also included infield construction, new runway lighting, a lighted wind cone, NAVAIDS, pavement markings, and construction of a new sea plane ramp.

Due to the lack of available runway safety area, this project could not use half-width construction phasing. The full runway was required to be open every day. This left only short windows of allowable construction during night shifts. Sections were opened and repaired each night, then paved and inspected prior to morning. The crew executed this phasing plan resulting in no scheduled planes being delayed during the project. A tight, five-month timeframe in challenging weather required our “failure is not an option” attitude as the economy of the community depended on the runway’s completion. This was one of the first projects in the state of Alaska to utilize intelligent compaction for hot mix asphalt. Despite the challenges of implementing and utilizing new technology, intelligent compaction aided in the high quality of construction performed on this project, and it was featured in trade magazines as a successful example of this technology.