About the Project

In 1998, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Aviation (Bureau) selected APTech to implement a statewide airport pavement management system (APMS). Due to the agency’s satisfaction, APTech was retained again in 2005, 2008, 2015, and 2022 to update, expand, and improve the APMS. 

The most recent project involved evaluating the pavements at 85 public-use airports and heliports in Pennsylvania using the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) procedure. APTech used that information to develop maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) recommendations for each airport, analyzing the impact multiple budget scenarios have on the system’s condition. Additionally, APTech prepared project reports and updated the Bureau’s web-based pavement data visualization tool, IDEA. Finally, structural testing with a heavyweight falling weight deflectometer (FWD), supplemented with a coring program, was performed. The APTech team analyzed the collected information to determine Pavement Classification Ratings (PCRs) for the primary runways at select commercial airports.

One unique challenge of this project was the absence of historical pavement layer thickness records for some runway pavement included for PCR determinations. Additionally, a review of FWD deflection testing data identified further layer thickness needs. To address these issues, APTech reached out to each of the airport sponsors directly where additional information was needed. This effort greatly reduced the need for additional investigation and allowed APTech to implement a plan to obtain further information through pavement coring. These efforts were successful in obtaining the data needed to determine the PCRs for all included runway pavements.

The updated APMS gives the airports, the Bureau, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the pavement information and analytical tools necessary to identify pavement-related needs, optimize the selection of projects and treatments, and evaluate the long-term impacts of their project priorities. The APMS will also be used to determine the ability of the current aviation system to meet transportation and economic objectives as they relate to the pavement infrastructure on a statewide basis.