Dulles, VA
Award: Durability
Project Team
Owner: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
Contractor: Atlantic Contracting & Material Co., Inc.
Engineer: Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc.
Concrete: Lehigh Hanson Cement Company
Slag Cement: Lehigh Hanson
In this project the use of a 50/50 cement/slag cement 650 flex mix, aided in the ability to achieve 450 psi flexural strength (spec. needed to ride on slab early and drill dowel bars) in 72 hours or less. In turn, it allowed the ability to cut the down time on fill-in paving lanes from 8-9 days to 4-5 days, increasing efficiency, productivity and profitability.
Per FAA P-501 pcc pavement specification, a 650 flex mix is required for heavy duty pavements on the
airfield. For both side form and slip form mix designs, ACM chose to design a 50%/50% cement/slag cement mix, utilizing 282 lbs. per cubic yard of cement from Lehigh-Union Bridge, MD and 282 lbs. per cubic yard of slag cement from Lehigh-Camden, NJ. ACM used approximately 10,408 TN of slag cement on this project. ACM ended up with 46 production/test lots on the project, with an average 28-day flexural strength of 750 lbs. The 50/50 mix used on this project is tried and true. In the past eleven (11) seasons at Dulles, it has successfully been used on five taxi lanes, eight taxiways, and this year’s 1C-19C runway reconstruction. The workability is outstanding, and fully expect a 50-year life cycle on pcc placed.
ACM was contracted by MWAA in November 2020 to reconstruct 5,320 LF of the north end of runway
1C/19C and 5 adjacent high-speed taxiways. A portable Rexcon batch plant was erected on the north
end of the airport for this project. After procurement/material testing/submittal portion of the project was completed, work commenced in March 2021. Major definable features of work included:
PCC breaking and pavement demolition
Asphalt shoulder milling
Onsite crushing of demo pavement for reuse as P-219 CABC
Electrical demolition
Cut to subgrade/excavation
Complete new underdrain system
Soil cement stabilization of all subgrades
P-304 cement treated base course for shoulders and PCC areas
1,300 LF of new 36” sanitary sewer
2-90 foot sections of 8x10 foot precast box culverts
16” & 18” PCC pavement
HMA shoulders
New electrical systems, including touchdown zone lights, runway surface lights, surface sensors, runway and taxiway edge lights
Seeding/sodding of infields and new runway
Pavement markings
ACM completed the airfield work week of November 15, 2021. Demobilization and
cleanup of batch plant and staging area will occur in early 2022.
The most notable aspects of the project were the number of subcontractors (17) partnering and working
together to finish a $32,M reconstruction project in 9 months of field work. Most noteworthy
is that the project from NTP in November 2020 to completion in November 2021 was completed during
a global pandemic that caused supply shortages with our vendors, unprecedented safety protocols, and
virtually no face-to-face meetings with the Airports Authority.
% Slag Cement Replacement | 50%, 282 lbs. per CY |
% Portland Cement | 50%, 282 lbs. per CY |
% Portland Limestone Cement | |
% Other SCM (if applicable) | |
Aggregate | Coarse Agg., 1970 lbs. per CY/Fine Agg., 1258 lbs. per CY |
Water/cement ratio | .44 |
7-day strengths | 650 Average |
28-day strengths | 750 Average |