Laying the Groundwork for Resiliency

Effective Airfield Pavement Management

To truly avoid a scenario like the one described above, an airport must implement measures that prevent such pavement failures. Unfortunately, prevention is often impossible to achieve because pavements at airports are often as old as the airport itself. The good news is, no matter an airport’s size, function or capacity, having a robust pavement maintenance program and plan in place that commits dedicated resources to aging infrastructure is the most effective way to foster pavement resiliency.

Executing such a pavement maintenance program is straightforward — following the road map laid out by that program can be challenging for airport operators. This challenge often stems from lack of funding or qualified maintenance staff to make the necessary repairs or implement the appropriate maintenance.

For these reasons, it is essential that airport management view a pavement maintenance program as more than just “checking the box.” Managers, maintenance staff and operations staff must be involved from the inception of a program. This allows the airport to set goals that have the most impact on the pavement systems. By identifying what items can be reasonably funded and maintained, the airport can avoid setting unreasonable capital improvement goals that cannot receive funding or have programmed cost estimates that have not been properly vetted.

Operational Resiliency Through Pavement Maintenance