Runway at New Airport is Almost Complete! Video!

The new Bay County International Airport is moving along very quickly!

Per PCBDaily:

That’s right, the approved 8,400 feet of the main runway at the new airport site in Panama City is complete.  With the exception of the center where the runway lights will be installed, they are done.  Approval should come shortly from the FAA for the extension to the full 10,000 feet which will take just over 14 days to complete.

January Airport Construction Update from Jason Koertge on Vimeo.

On-site, they have the capability to produce concrete at the pace of filling a new mixing truck every 2.5 minutes so the actual paving goes pretty quick.  The concrete layer is 15 inches thick and it lays on top of 4 inches of asphalt.  The density is also much greater than the stuff you use to to pour your home’s foundation.

The terminal barely resembles a frame right now but is coming along.  Construction time on the terminal will last almost the duration of the project, along with the air traffic control tower.  The air traffic control tower has 72 piles already installed that reach 45 feet into the earth.  Instead of using pre-cast piles, they used auger-cast piles said Roy Willett, Senior Project Manager of KBR.  Auger-cast piles are set by drilling into the ground, and as the dirt comes up, it is replaced with concrete, all the while placing a steel re-bar pole down the middle for reinforcement.  In the video, you can see where the earth movers are digging around the re-bar to clear out the top of the pilings.

In my interviewwith Dr. Ed Wright, stand-in director of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, it was mentioned that he wasn’t sure if the new airport would need any modifications with regards to turn-radius/taxiway requirements to accommodate the large Airbus A380 or other large cargo aircraft.  Willett confirmed that short of the largest of the Antonov and the largest of the Airforce’s cargo planes, the new airport will be able to accommodate it all with the 10,000 foot runway - turning radii and all.  Awesome, just flat-out awesome.!