Andrews AFB awards $81 million runway repair contract

Published May 13, 2010
By AFDW Public Affairs

AIR FORCE DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON -- An $81 million contract to repair one of two runways on Andrews AFB was awarded April 30 to the construction firm Tutor Perini Corporation. The contract will completely replace the failing 50-year-old west runway, which was built in 1960 with an expected 25-year lifespan.

Physical construction is scheduled to begin in late summer 2010 and will take approximately 365 days to complete.

Andrews AFB operates the only military runway within the National Capital Region and requires these repairs to maintain operational capability, including support to the presidential airlift mission, aeromedical evacuation flights and contingency response scenarios. The repair of the west runway is just one phase of a comprehensive plan to revitalize AFDW's primary weapon system: the airfield at Andrews.

That plan was set into motion three years ago when projects to repair the East Runway and the airfield lighting vault (the main control node for all the lights on the airfield) were funded. The east runway project in particular was intended to be a stop-gap repair that would ensure all operational demands could be met while the west runway is closed.

Engineers from the 316th Civil Engineer Squadron and AFDW are already making plans for follow-on phases which will include an extensive repair of the airfield storm drainage system as well as a more comprehensive repair of the East Runway.

Funding for this project was anything but guaranteed despite a full-court press that had engineers from AFDW taking an advocacy briefing to senior leaders at the Pentagon last year. The moment that really sold the project was when the Andrews' mission partners endorsed the plan and started advocating on AFDW's behalf. Solid engineering analysis of the technical condition of the runway was key to generating that support.

"To say that convincing the Air Force Corporate Structure to invest over $80 million in the West Runway at Andrews was a success is a huge understatement!" said Col. Brian Bellacicco, AFDW's director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support. "It really speaks to the importance of the mission here at Andrews. It's our responsibility to ensure we have the best infrastructure in place to support that mission - and it's a matter of national importance."

"This was a tremendous team effort on the part of 316th Wing, AFDW, Air Mobility Command, Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, and the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment," said Mr. David Ferry, a civil engineer on staff in the AFDW Directorate of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support. AFCESA and AFCEE are field operating agencies under the office of the Air Force Civil Engineer with two completely different missions. But according to Mr. Ferry, "participation from both agencies was absolutely essential to ensure the award of this major contract."

The scope of work for the project includes:

- Completely removing and replacing the pavement on the 9,300-foot long by 200-foot wide runway

- Repairing the 1,000-foot by 200-foot wide overruns past each end of the runway by strengthening it to allow extra distance for take-off

- Reducing the paved shoulders from 50 feet of asphalt on each side of the runway to 25 feet thereby reducing the paved area by nearly 7 acres

- Repairing the navigational aids and airfield lighting systems to allow operations in virtually all weather conditions

- Remediating nearly 40,000 tons of contaminated soil

Tutor Perini Corporation is a leading civil and building construction company that provides general contracting and design/build services to private clients and public agencies throughout the world. In 2009, the company was awarded a $204 million project to lengthen a runway at JFK Airport in New York. Tutor Perini also recently upgraded the south runway at Andersen Air Base, Guam.

Andrews AFB West Runway