Title: LaGuardia Airport Design Build for Extending Runway Decks for Safety Area Improvements, Queens, NY

Author(s): Anthony Devito; Alex Krutovskiy and Leszek Czajkowski

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 337

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 117-135

Keywords: corrosion protection, drop plank system, longitudinal braking force

DOI: 10.14359/51724551

Date: 1/23/2020

Abstract:

The purpose of the LaGuardia Runway Extension Project is to extend existing runways 4-22 and 13-31 into Flushing Bay, at the inshore end of Long Island Sound, to support Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) - a crushable material installed at the end of each runway to reduce the risk of a plane overrun during takeoff.

The new runway deck extensions are marine concrete structures which utilize precast prestressed pile caps with a pre and post-tensioned composite precast deck and cast-in-place concrete topping slab. The concrete decks are supported by 250 ton (227 tonnes) 24 inch (61cm) diameter epoxy coated closed end concrete filled steel pipe piles with specialized wraps and sacrificial zinc anodes for corrosion protection. The piles are approximately 100 feet (30m) long and driven in about 30 feet (9m) of water through soft organic clay and dense glacial soils and founded on bedrock.

This paper provides an overall description of the runway extensions and a detailed account of both the technical and logistical challenges. Challenges included a prestressed composite deck design for both the aircraft impact and braking loads. Maintaining and replacing the lightbars of the Approach Lighting Systems (ALS) used to visually identify the runways was required, along with optimizing the pile hammer selection and driveability with wave equation analyses and dynamic pile driving PDA testing. Extensive coordination was necessary with the PANYNJ, FAA and various other stakeholders involved in this fast-paced design build project.