Hanson Engineers
improves
60-year-old airport
 The
seat belt sign dings and lights up waking you from your slumber.
You shiver as the air in the cabin gets colder. The plane begins
to descend and your stomach is queasy. Fear and nervousness overwhelm
you -- leaving you with clammy palms. Finally, the big steel bird's
hind wheels touch the runway, bouncing as they make contact with
the pavement. The plane screeches to a halt; the pressure hurts
your ears.
A bumpy runway is the last thing you want to worry about. Hanson
Engineers and the Joliet Regional Port District are working together
to smooth out the bumps at one northern Illinois airport. Their
goal is to improve and expand the airport's facilities and grounds
--runways, taxiways, aprons, parking lots and terminals -- at the
Lewis University Airport.
Employees
from Hanson's Oak Brook, Rockford and Springfield, Ill., offices
have provided the 60-year-old airport with preliminary design and
construction services. One of the improvements they're working on
is a new 6,500-foot-long runway, which will serve as the airport's
primary runway.
Before
construction began on the new runway, engineers determined they
needed at least 1.7 million cubic yards of fill to achieve the proper
grades and elevations necessary. An innovative and cost-effective
approach developed by The Port District and Mineral Solutions, an
international resource reclamation/reuse company, will provide the
additional fill the airport needs to complete the runway.Mineral
Solutions will remove, reuse and dispose of ash residue from coal-fired
power plants, including ComEd's plants. ComEd is one of the largest
investor-owned electric utilities in the United States. Using coal
combustion products (CCBs), Mineral Solutions will provide the fill
for the airports' new runway at no cost to the Port District.
In
recent years, Mineral Solutions and ComEd have sought new markets
for coal ash. Additionally, ComEd has been recognized as an industry
leader for finding new ways to recycle and reuse its largest waste
product.
According
to Roland Kraatz, the project is cost effective for ComEd. "By recycling
ash from our plants, our company avoids the cost of disposing of
it in landfills," he says. "The Port District also saves because
it doesn't have to buy conventional landfill." And this approach
benefits the environment, too.
By
teaming with ComEd and Mineral Solutions, the Port District expects
to save approximately $8.5 million in construction costs by using
the coal byproduct instead of conventional fill material. No more
bumpy runways thanks to recycling, reconstruction and reuse. More
than 250-based planes and visiting aircraft will benefit from this
improvement.
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