The Roma Airport in Queensland, Australia, manages around 100 arrivals and departures each week, including many that are vital to energy and resource industry work, such as coal seam gas in the Surat Basin. Because of the industry tie-ins, the annual passenger volume can vary significantly, from roughly 75,000 passengers per year up to 240,000+. To handle the fluctuations and ensure long-term safety and support, the airport has invested regularly in new facilities.
In 2018, Roma Airport initiated a multi-million dollar upgrade, with the focus being on an asphalt overlay system improvement for the entire 30m width of the runway. The site also upgraded line marking, runway shoulder works, taxiways, and apron pavements.
The Maranoa Regional Council, with additional funding support from the Queensland Government’s Building our Regions program and airport revenues, led the initiative and documented the work in the video above. The installation of the geosynthetic can be seen around the 2:30 mark in the four-minute profile.
ASPHALT REINFORCEMENT OF RUNWAYS
HUESKER has been closely involved in the Roma Airport Runway surfacing reconstruction works, as the company’s HaTelit C asphalt reinforcement geogrid was specified for the project.
The site works have consisted of profiling, crack sealing, and construction of two layers of asphalt. These layers have been reinforced with the geosynthetic to mitigate reflective cracking and extend the runway pavement service life.
The installation of the HaTelit C asphalt reinforcement layer and the wearing course were completed at night over nine shifts across the entire runway, with each shift seeing an average of more than 5,000m2 of geosynthetic being installed and immediately overlaid with the wearing course. During two of the nine shifts, the project team even achieved a coverage of over 7,000m2 per shift—which underscored how efficient and economical the asphalt reinforcement strategy could be upfront while on the design side it offered a significant boost to pavement service life.
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In a post on its website, HUESKER acknowledges the important contributions of the Maranoa Regional Council, AECOM designers, GHD construction support, Fulton Hogan HaTelit C installation, and the asphalt construction team. The company also recognizes its on-site specialist field engineer Simon Ouk.
Visit HUESKER’s post about the Roma works for roadway and pavement contacts in Australia, or visit its international home page for information about HUESKER’s asphalt reinforcement and other geosynthetic materials and engineering services around the world.
