The Airport Concrete Pavement Technology Program (ACPTP) has issued a:
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) for
Best Practices for Rapid Repair, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Concrete Airport Pavements
PROPOSAL DUE DATE:
October 29, 2021 no later than 4:00 P.M. (Central Time)
In 2002 the Innovative Pavement Research Foundation (IPRF) developed a Guide for Accelerated Airfield Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (Planning, Design, Execution). This guide:
• Based on materials and processes that were available at that point in time
• Contained case studies documenting approaches and practices for accelerated construction for various types of projects
• Considered projects that had to be completed overnight as well as any project that had a compressed completion schedule as an accelerated project. In today’s environment, any closure can have even more detrimental impacts on airport operations than in the past. Research is needed to develop guidance for design engineers and contractors for rapid rehabilitation practices using current technologies
Current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pavement design guidance is contained in FAA Advisory Circular 150/5720-6(G) Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation. This guidance assumes standard pavement design coupled with standard construction practices will be used for a project. The design is supported by the FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layer Design (FAARFIELD) computer software to assist with pavement design. Currently the design guidance does not consider factors that should be considered when a significant schedule reduction is needed. When engineers determine the need for rapid construction for an airport project, the airport sponsor and the FAA both have concerns because there are no standards to support the design decisions or fast-track construction processes. This lack of guidance often leads to the engineer filing a modification to standards (MOS) to use a non-standard typical pavement section or non-standard materials to aid in expediting construction. Documenting the need and filing an MOS can be complicated and time consuming. Oftentimes, an MOS fails to consider impacts to the construction specifications or construction processes. This potential lack of vetting all aspects of the construction through the MOS during the design phase of a project can raise difficulties for both the engineer and the contractor during construction. So, the need exists to develop guidance that considers both the design and construction of reduced schedule projects such that airport sponsor, the FAA, and the engineer of record have design and construction standards to support processes that they can reference with confidence.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of the work in this RFP is to build upon the accelerated construction guide and case studies developed under the IPRF program to develop the guidance and standards for rapid construction projects such that the engineer, airport sponsor and FAA have guidance they can rely on to provide quality concrete pavements under rapid construction practices. Topics to address include, but are not limited to:
- Develop tools and/or standards that will allow for the fast-track pavement design and construction without the need for an MOS.
- Develop language to provide guidance to be included in AC 150/5320-6 such that if an engineer determines that fast-track construction is necessary to meet a rehabilitation or reconstruction project requirements, they have design guidance to support fast-track construction methods.
- Develop language to provide guidance on FAA requirements for benefit-cost analyses (BCA) to be completed in the project planning phase to support the justification for using rapid construction for all capacity projects that require more than $10 million in federal AIP discretionary funds.
- Discuss the factors to be evaluated when considering project fast-tracking including criteria for justifying rapid construction as opposed to traditional approaches.
- Determine if changes to the standard parameters required in the FAA pavement design software, FAARFIELD, are needed so that when a fast-track project is selected, a standard pavement design can be accomplished.
- Determine if modifications to P-501 are necessary to make it consistent with fast-track construction. Examples may include additional “Notes to the Engineer” in P-501 on how to modify the specifications to be consistent with fast-track paving processes, material acceptance, etc.
- Review and determine if changes to other specifications may be recommended to accommodate fast-track processes.
- Consideration should be given to all pavement layers from the subgrade to base selection.
- Include information / research into concrete pavement strength gain such that guidance canbe determined on opening pavement to construction traffic.
- Review and recommend timing of ancillary item installation such as drilling and insertingdowel bars, grooving, installing pavement markings, installing electrical items andinstalling in-pavement light cans.
- Consider cost differences between performing regular and expedited construction. The intention of this project is that the primary deliverable will be a research report that suggests changes or additions to FAA Advisory Circular 150/5320-6 or Advisory Circular 150/5370-10; Item P-501 or other pertinent P-specification items to develop standards for fast-track construction such that modifications of current standards are unnecessary. Additionally, the researcher should investigate the possibility for updates to FAA AC 5370-16 Rapid Construction of Rigid PCC Airfield Pavements and FAA AC 5300-9 Predesign, Prebid, and Preconstruction Conferences for Airport Grant Projects. The research may potentially lead to development of a separate advisory circular and guide specification that can be referenced by the engineer of record for specific guidance when fast-track construction must be used.
The ACPTP is a cooperative contract between the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Its goal is the implementation of airfield pavement technologies that extend the life of airfield pavements—to improve airfield reliability, efficiency, and safety to keep America moving forward. ACPTP page: https://cptechcenter.org/airport-pavements/acptp/
IMPORTANT LINKS:
More detail as described above, more INSTRUCTIONS, TASKS, REPORTS, FUNDS available, and more, please go to NCPTC under Cooperative Agreement with the FAA Airport Concrete Pavement Technology Program (ACPTP)
Request for Proposal (RFP) ACPTP-2021-3 “Best Practices for Rapid Repair, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Concrete Airport Pavements“: https://intrans.iastate.edu/app/uploads/sites/7/2021/10/Rapid-Repair-Rehabilitation-and-Reconstruction-of-Concrete-Airport-Pavements-RFP.pdf
More information, BUDGET SAMPLE; CP Tech Center’s ACPTP web page: https://cptechcenter.org/airport-pavements/acptp/rfp/