Yakutat Airport Improvements

Location: Yakutat, Alaska
Project Dates: 2015-2016
Owner: State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
Contract Amount: $12,485,667
Status: Complete

Project Details: Knik cold-planed the existing asphalt at the Yakutat Airport Runway 11-29 and laid 62,000 tons of hot mix asphalt in this Southeastern Alaskan coastal village. This region is known for its subarctic climate with high precipitation and rainforest vegetation. Consideration was given for rainy weather days that could impair paving activities.

An echelon paving technique was employed on this project, which entailed paving multiple panels side by side with adjacent paving machines slightly offset. This technique, combined with a high production asphalt plant and a highly motivated construction crew, helped overcome the expected challenges of Yakutat’s wet climate. Knik’s crew often worked long extended shifts to complete this project within the contracted timeframe. This resulted in setting not only a company record, but one of the state’s highest production days of HMA laydown, tallying over 6,000 tons in one shift.

Knik also raised the threshold at the 29 end of the runway, adjusted the grade of runway l l-29 at the intersection with runway 2/20 to facilitate drainage, repaired 37,000 feet of existing pavement joints, and re-grooved and re-striped runway 11/29. The project also repaved, re-striped, and grooved Taxiway ‘A’ at the airport.