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The News & Observer: RDU airport keeps its main runway alive, one slab of concrete at a time
by
Richard Stradling
Read entire story in the News & Observer by Richard Stradling.
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Icelandair flight 821 from Reykjavik landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport shortly after 7 p.m. one recent Monday. It was the last plane to use 5L/23R, the main runway at RDU, for more than 19 hours.
The runway officially closed at 7:14 p.m., and the lights in the pavement and on the approach that guide pilots were turned off.
Moments later, a convoy of trucks and utility vehicles spilled onto the darkened runway, some pulling trailers of equipment and generator-powered spotlights. They converged on a spot near the midpoint of the 10,000-foot runway and quickly got into well-rehearsed positions.
Eight minutes after the airport shut down 5L/23R, an excavator began pulling up chunks of concrete 16 inches thick from near the center line and laid them into the bed of huge dump truck.
The urgent overnight effort to preserve RDU’s runway had begun again.
9:48 p.m.
Final preparations for the top layer of concrete Workers drape a layer of plastic sheeting over the leveling course of concrete, then begin placing sheets of steel mesh, supported by steel wire, on top. The steel will make the concrete stronger and help distribute the weight of planes.
As the steel is placed, workers move a large roller machine next to the hole. The machine, a triple tube roller screed or paver, is longer than the hole is wide and will roll atop the concrete to smooth it out.
The roller screed is relatively new on these jobs, says Jeno Cossette, general superintendent for Balfour Beatty, the airport’s general contractor. Cossette, who along with Girvan supervises the work each night, said it’s one example of how the company and its workers get better.
“As they do it each year, they find ways to make it more efficient and less stressful,” he said. “The screed that they flatten the concrete out with they bought specifically for these airport jobs, and it makes a world of difference.”