INDUSTRY NEWS
Monday, January 22, 2007
New England Construction
By Staff
BOSTON – A $53-million runway has just been finished and placed in service at Logan International Airport in East Boston, Mass. General contractor McCourt Construction Company of South Boston was given the notice to proceed in August 2004 for the new 5,000-foot runway 14/32 at Logan, which serves Boston and the greater New England area. Operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), Logan is America’s sixth busiest airport, and handles domestic flights and international connections to and from the Pacific Rim, Europe and Latin America. Located on the southern end of the airfield, runway 14/32 is the sixth runway at Logan and was built to accommodate regional jet and non-jet traffic and improve arrival flow to the airport during certain weather conditions. Planning for the new runway began over 30 years go and since 1995 has been the subject of more than 100 public meetings with over 3,000 interested parties.
Included in McCourt Construction’s contract was 270,000 cubic yards of unclassified excavation, 403,000 cubic yards of embankment and 90,000 cubic yards of pavement excavation. Crews also repaired 10 miles of pavement cracks, placed 150,000 tons of hot mix asphalt and applied 50 miles of 4-inch-wide pavement markings. Other work involved installing two miles of reinforced concrete drain, three miles of underdrain, nearly 60 drain structures, more than 80 electric manholes, and 70 miles of power and communication cable. Massport says the new runway will reduce overall delays by about 25 percent and in certain wind conditions will cut delays by almost 90 percent. Runway 14/32 is a unidirectional runway, meaning aircraft arrivals and departures will occur over Boston Harbor.