W-L Construction

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in VAA’s Virginia Asphalt Magazine’s 2020

Spring/Summer edition and has been reprintI ed here with VAA’s permission. In December 2019, at the Mid-Atlantic Asphalt Expo & Conference (MAAE), the Virginia Asphalt Association (VAA) and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) recognized outstanding paving projects in a total of seven different categories: VAA, five categories; and VDOT, two categories. Submissions were evaluated on appearance, project complexity and ride quality to determine the winner of each group. In past years, there was no “grand champion” or “best of the best” award given, but that has changed.

VAA introduced its Golden Lute Award, to be presented annually to the overall best paving project within the Commonwealth. The Golden Lute recipient was selected from the winners of the VDOT and

Virginia’s Best categories. W-L Construction & Paving Inc., Chilhowie, Virginia, was crowned “the best of the best” for their quality paving efforts at Mountain

Empire Airport.

Mountain Empire Airport is a public-use airport located in Smyth County, Virginia.

Built in 1958, Mountain Empire is owned and operated by the Smyth-Wythe Airport

Commission, which includes representatives from Smyth and Wythe counties and the towns of Marion and Wytheville. Vital to the community, the airport is used for general, corporate and military aviation. It sits almost squarely on the continental divide for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and

Mississippi River.

“W-L provided the upgrade that we needed, an upgrade that was mandated,”

Airport Manager Curtis Pennington said.

“W-L is a local contractor, and we were glad that money spent on the project remained in the area. We are very pleased with the outcome of the project and expect 20 more years of use.”

The runway, which is 5,252 feet long and 75 feet wide, was in poor condition with extensive cracking and differential settlement along earlier construction joints where previous extensions and widenings had been performed. The rehabilitation project, advertised and administered by

Delta Airport Consultants Inc., included profile milling the existing surface, three types of crack repairs, a new 2.5-inch surface, lighting, markings and regrading edges of the runway safety area.

The project conditions permitted a 25-calendar-day full-closure of the run way to complete the milling and paving operations with $3,000 per day liquidat ed damages.

The construction specifications in cluded P-401 asphalt mix with all grades +/- ½ inch of plans and profile milling ar eas noted in the plan to accomplish a 2.5- inch final surface lift of asphalt. Longitu dinal cold joints were limited to three for the runway and required a 6-inch re- mill o f each cold joint to provide a vertical edge for paving the next lane. Before full production of the final asphalt surface, a 300- foot by 37.5-foot test section was required

Mountain Empire Airport is located in Smyth County, Virginia. Photo courtesy of Mountain Empire Airport

LEFT: Before placement of the last mat, the entire surface was coated in PG64-22 liquid followed by a non-woven fabric to reinforce the pavement structure. RIGHT: The project used more than 13,000 tons of P-401, with 100 percent of tonnage meeting the PWL spec.

W-L performed echelon paving on the runway to minimize cold joints.

to demonstrate the contractor’s ability to achieve the project specs. The minimum densities were 96.3 percent for the mat and 93.3 percent for the joints. The percent within limits (PWL) method of estimating percentage of material within specification limits was specified for acceptance and pay ment of the asphalt.

Before the start of work, W-L created a GPS model of the planned surface to compare with the existing surface eleva tions. After dividing and marking the existing surface, milling operations were performed with GPS (millimeter precision) of high areas. Areas that were significant ly low were then paved in 1.5-inch lifts to reach the bottom of the 2.5-inch surface lift. One last GPS milling pass was per formed on the entire runway to provide a uniform 2.5-inch final mat.

Before placement of the last mat, the entire surface was coated in PG64-22 liquid followed by a non-woven fabric to reinforce the pavement structure. The final surface course was placed using two tandem pav ers that also incorporated the GPS model, resulting in final grades within 0.02 feet of the planned grade, which was half of the al lowed tolerance. This process also reduced the number of cold joints to one at the cen terline of the runway. The project used more than 13,000 tons of P-401, with 100 percent of tonnage meeting the PWL spec.

Understanding the importance of the project and the risks associated with a PWL spec, W-L selected two of its senior paving foremen and crews to perform the paving operations. Several planning meetings were held to discuss means and methods before starting the project. Additionally, mix designs were submitted from two different plants in case issues developed at the primary plant.

“Planning, effective communication, and experienced milling and paving crews were key factors in the successful execution of this project,” W-L President Jerry Short said. “We approached this as a team by using everyone’s talents and experience. We also stretched ourselves by utilizing GPS in both milling and paving operations.”

At the 2019 MAAE & Conference, VAA President Trenton Clark spoke about the qualities of each paving category winner. All of the projects were unique, so they had to pay attention to those attributes that sepa rated one winner from another.

After visiting all candidate projects for the Golden Lute winner and reviewing the proj ect information submitted, VAA determined the work performed by W-L at Mountain Em pire Airport was the top project of the year.

“It is an honor to be the first recipient of this prestigious award, but all the praise goes to the crews,” Short said. As the trophy will be inscribed with the many annual win

ners in the future, Short is already looking at next year by remarking, “I’m challenging the crews to continue the high-quality work because I would like to see our name on the trophy again.”

Chris Blevins is the vice president of W-L Construction & Paving Inc. Kelly Hill is W-L Construction’s human resources coordinator.