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Third Runway Construction
The Final Phase
- The 2007-2008 construction includes paving the new runway and eight connecting taxiways; expanding the second runway's north safety area to meet current FAA requirements; building a retaining wall for the safety area expansion; constructing a facility to house lighting equipment for the entire airfield; and installing the power, water, drainage and lighting infrastructure for the third runway.
- The third runway will be 8,500 feet long, 150 feet wide and 17 inches thick. It will require 130,000 cubic yards of concrete and 35,000 tons of asphalt (for runway shoulders). It is designed to last 40 years.
- The paving concrete contains fly ash, a material that can be used as a substitute for up to 30 percent of the cement in making concrete. Fly ash reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) released during cement production. By using fly ash on the third runway, we will save greenhouse gas emissions equal to that produced by 100 households in a year. The presence of fly ash also reduces the amount of energy needed for cement production. Fly ash is a byproduct of burning coal.
- The concrete for the project is being produced at an on-site plant at the north end of the airfield, and transported to the paving site in trucks.
- There also are additives in the cement that make it resistant to de-icing chemicals.
- A moving concrete form, called a slip-form paving machine, will place and finish the concrete pavement without the use of fixed forms. This is a very efficient method of placing airfield and roadway concrete pavements.
- The existing east runway is 11,900 feet long and the center runway is 9,425 feet long. Both are 150 feet wide.
- More than 16 million cubic yards of fill dirt went into the airfield embankment, which extended the airfield plateau 2,000 feet to the west to accommodate the third runway.
- More than 13 million cubic yards of dirt were delivered to the construction site between 2002 and 2006. About three million cubic yards of dirt came from on-site excavation.
- Paving work was completed in fall 2007.
- The contractor is ICON Materials of Tukwila. Contract value $79.8 million; total spent on the runway project to date is more than $800 million. The project is on budget and on schedule.
- Project schedule: Work is under way and will continue through the summer of 2008
- FAA is constructing navigational aids including approach light and instrument landing systems for the new runway in conjunction with the third runway project.
- Other environmental mitigation measures for this project include:
- Trucks have lower emitting engines and are fueled by ultra low-sulfur diesel.
- Dust and track out are controlled by spraying water on dry days and sweeping portions of public streets near the project.
- There are seven construction storm water ponds and four treatment centers.
- More than 600 million gallons of stormwater has been treated since construction started in July 2004.
- The water is treated with a state of the art Chitosan treatment system. Chitosan is a recycled crab shell product that causes the soil particles to drop out of the water. The water passes through sand filters before it is clean enough to release to area creeks.
- Starting September 2008, the FAA is scheduled to conduct various inspections and procedures before the runway is certified for use.
- The runway is scheduled to officially open in November 2008.
- Eighteen runways have been built in the United States since 1990.
