Paving extends Albany International Airport’s east-west runway by 1,200 feet with virtually no downtime.

Late last summer, the takeoff of a USAirways Boeing 737 marked the opening of Albany International Airport’s new 1,200 foot extension to the east-west runway. The extension, which was paved by Hudson River Construction, allows more heavily loaded planes to take off during adverse weather conditions. The completed runway is now a seamless ribbon, 8,400 feet long and 150 feet wide. The project required more than 36,000 tons of asphalt which was placed to a depth of 12 inches – more than three times the thickness of a standard asphalt highway.

A fleet of more than 15 asphalt trucks made about 8 trips a day for two weeks between the airport and Albany Asphalt’s blacktopplant in the Port of Albany.

"The extended runway will open the door for Albany based airlines and allow us to explore new opportunities for air travel," said John O’Donnell, acting Chief Executive Officer of the Albany International Airport.

Major Advantages
Airport operators want smooth, durable pavements that can be rehabilitated without extensive runway downtime. The amount of time that a runway is out of service is critical to flight schedules, and since asphalt construction can be done at night or during off-peak runway hours, fewer operations are disrupted. Asphalt paving requires no curing time, so the runway can be ready for use almost immediately after the job is completed. Another key benefit is the much lower cost of using asphalt versus concrete in both repairing and refurbishing the runway in the future. pavement life and may lead to total pavement failure.