Advanced Pavement Technology – A Must for Airport Pavements – Case Studies

The aircraft traffic loading continuously increases at Canadian airports. Climate change also has an adverse impact on pavement performance. Temperature increases may cause premature pavement deformations and shear failures. Pavement friction is another aspect that must be addressed. Conventional pavement technology is often not sufficient to meet the increasing quality demands for airfield pavements. Pavement materials and technologies successfully used on road pavements are often not suitable to meet the performance needs for airfield pavements. The focus is mainly on hot-mix asphalt, including asphalt cement types, quality aggregates, and advanced mix designs. It is common to improve the subgrade soil characteristics; the application of geosynthetics has been noted to be very successful and has become a common solution for airside pavements. This paper includes two case studies. The introduction of advanced HMA technology at Edmonton International Airport which significantly improved pavement performance, and reduced demands for maintenance interventions. The use of better quality asphalt cement, aggregates and overall asphalt mixes at Winnipeg International Airport for major runway rehabilitation.