WINNER - AIRPORTS

WILLOW RUN RUNWAYS 5R/23L & 9/27 DECOUPLING

Location: Willow Run Airport
Concrete Contractor: Toebe Construction LLC
Design Engineer: Mead & Hunt, Inc.
Owner: Wayne County Airport Authority

Willow Run Airport is not only rich in history for the state of Michigan, but for America as a whole. During World War 2, this airport was home to the world’s largest bomber production facility. Built in 1941, a total of 8,700 B-24 Bombers were built at the facility for the United States Military, making it a major contributor to America’s victory in the war. In 2017, the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) came up with a master plan to make significant improvements to the airfield to allow it to continue its legacy long into the future.

Upon start-up of this project, the Willow Run airfield had three active runways, all of which came together in the Northeast corner of the airfield. The intent of the project was to eliminate one of the runways and to decouple (eliminate the connection) between the remaining two. This was being done to bring the airfield into compliance with current FAA safety standards which will significantly improve traffic flow on the airfield and allow for safe and efficient future development of the surrounding land.

This project was originally designed with 3 main phases and two additional sub-phases. COVID travel restrictions for FAA inspection personnel put a wrench in that phasing just after project start-up. This caused the original phasing to be thrown out and delays to the inspection put the completion of a large portion of the project in jeopardy. Despite those challenges, Toebe, Mead & Hunt, and WCAA came together and developed a modified staging plan to keep the project on track. This will allow future phases of the master plan to stay on track and will keep Willow Run on the positive trajectory it has been on for almost a century.

In total, 23,500 square yards (10,600 cubic yards) of 15 to 18 inches of concrete was produced on-site and paved by Toebe crews. This project was constructed with a Guntert & Zimmerman S400 paver set at 18.75 feet wide, equipped with Leica Automated Machine Control. Miscellaneous areas utilized a 28-foot Allen roller screed. A combination of machine work and handwork with strict acceptance criteria required Toebe to complete the job in multiple phases.

Quality concrete was produced on the project with an on-site portable Rexcon Model S batch plant. High-quality concrete along with tight stringless grade controlled to full payment after the strength results and depth checks were run through the FAA's P-501 PWL acceptance/payment criteria. After these improvements as well as future improvements to the runways and taxiways, it’s safe to say that Willow Run Airport will continue to remain a crucial part of Southeast Michigan’s growth for many years.

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