Airport authority awards $12.9M contract for runway project

L.R. Costanzo Services Co. Inc., which has an office in Orefield, will install an engineered material arresting system for runway 13-31 at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. Here is a photo of an installation the company performed at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority awarded a $12.9 million construction contract to a local firm for a project to safely stop an overrunning aircraft.

L.R. Costanzo Services Co. Inc., which has an office in Orefield, will install the engineered material arresting system for runway 13-31 at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

The federal Department of Transportation is providing grants through the Federal Aviation Administration for the installation of engineered material arresting systems. About 90 percent of the funding for the project comes from the FAA, Charles Everett, executive director of the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority, said this morning. The remaining amount is from state and local funds, he said.

The FAA has a deadline by the end of 2015 to complete projects at commercial service airports with nonstandard safety areas, Everett said.

For example, LVIA has about 200 feet at the end of its runway when runway safety areas typically extend 1,000 feet. The safety extension provides a graded area in the event an aircraft overruns the runway.

A standard arresting system installation can stop an aircraft from overrunning the runway at about 80 mph, according to the FAA.

The systems use crushable concrete placed at the end of a runway to stop an aircraft, said Matthew Michalek, vice president of operations at L.R. Costanzo. The tires of the aircraft sink into the lightweight concrete and the aircraft is decelerated as it rolls through the material.

L.R. Costanzo, based in Scranton, installed a similar structure at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport, Michalek said.

“We are going to prep the site [LVIA] this year and then we will actively shut down for the winter,” Michalek said. “We are starting some site preparations. We’ll get the site ready for paving. We will come back in the spring once the weather cooperates.”

The company has to finish site preparation, install the pavement structure and install the blocks.

The blocks are made by Engineering Arresting Systems Corp., based in Logan Township, N.J., Michalek said. ESCO will produce the blocks for both parts of the runway, he added.

The project should be complete by the end of August, Michalek said.

Source: LVB.com