Independence Excavating (IX) was awarded the contract for safety area improvements at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) for phase II of Runway 10-28. The projected start date was delayed by nearly one month due to adverse weather and emergency repairs that had to be performed on another runway. The delayed start required an immediate, coordinated and accelerated effort by our crews, as well as multiple subcontractors. Multiple tasks of the project needed to be performed simultaneously in order to accelerate the schedule and work toward completing the project on its original completion date. The overall purpose of phase II of the Runway 10-28 project was to replace the east end (28) of Runway 10-28, which is parallel to Brookpark Road.

The various recycling processes incorporated in the construction of the runway base courses was unique to this project. The first process was the rubblization of over 51,000 SY of the existing runway, which broke the concrete down in place and proved to be a strong and capable base to support additional subsequent components of the pavement section. Secondly, more than two acres of 24” thick existing runway/taxiway concrete was broken in place to 12” minus sized pieces and then removed, trucked, and placed in deep fills. This not only saved in the amount of material used, but it also helped maintain the schedule by eliminating dirt fill in a spring season that proved to have record-breaking rainfall. Finally, concrete that was removed from the airport was crushed into aggregate by Independence Recycling and used in the low strength Econocrete base course produced at the Harper Company’s on-site batch plant. Nearly 35,000 tons was recycled to produce enough Econocrete to pave 74,300 SY.

Concurrent with pavement removal, IX removed a large network of existing underdrain and storm sewers, which proved to be a challenge as pipe removals needed to be strategically chosen to maintain as much drainage as possible. Maintaining drainage across the job site was key for installing the new storm system consisting of 13,000 LF of underdrains and over 10,000 LF of reinforced concrete pipe, of which 2,500 LF was 90 " in diameter. There were also 27 precast manholes and catch basins, some of which exceed 24 tons. Three storm structures were too large to precast, so IX concrete crews were enlisted to cast them in place. In addition to the pipe work, the storm system included excavation of an 118,000 CY dry pond with a paved concrete gutter, 271 LF of 48” bored and jacked underneath Brookpark Road and the re-building of the North Detention Basin located north of I-480 off Grayton Road.

The paving portion of the project encompasses the 28 end of Runway 10-28 and several connecting taxiways (U – Uniform, J – Juliet, Y – Yankee & Y1). As part of the reconstructed pavement, Taxiway U was relocated 450’ to the East and Taxiway J was re-graded and re-paved to accept the new intersecting location of Taxiway U. Taxiways Y and Yankee 1 were also reconfigured to connect with the end of the newly extended runway. Once all paving operations were complete more than 74,000 SY of 8" thick Econocrete base course, 71,000 SY of 14" thick Portland cement concrete pavement, and 38,000 SY of 5" thick Bituminous asphalt pavement for shoulders and blast pads was placed.

Once all paving operations were complete, the navigational aids (NAVAID) portion of the project allowed for the new runway to be fully operational. This challenging part of the project required IX crews and our electrical subcontractors to work outside the airport at various locations along State Route 237, inside the Ford Motor plant and on RTA rapid transit property to install the new NAVAID equipment. All of these items needed to be completed, tested, and operational for FAA flight checks and subsequent acceptance of the project.

In addition to the major work items above, our scope included runway and taxiway lighting, pavement markings, pavement grooving, and seeding and sodding to finish out the project.

The Runway 10-28 team hit the ground hard and fast to maintain an already aggressive schedule that was shortened due to emergency runway repairs and adverse weather conditions. In order to maintain this aggressive schedule our professional man power, largest iron and most reputable subcontractors in the business were called upon.