Mission Critical
Last spring, the U.S. Air Force awarded an $81 million contract for critical repairs of the West Runway at Joint Base Andrews located in Prince George’s County. The goal was to completely replace the failing 50-year-old infrastructure, which had significantly exceeded its anticipated 25-year lifespan. Construction was scheduled to begin in late summer, taking approximately one year to complete. Because Andrews operates the only military runway within the National Capital Region, providing essential support to presidential airlift missions, aero-medical evacuation flights and military contingency response scenarios, the project was mission critical.
The scope of work for the West Runway project includes: completely removing and replacing the pavement on the 9,300-foot long by 200-foot wide runway; repairing the 1,000-foot by 200-foot wide overruns past each end of the runway by strengthening them to allow extra distance for take-off; reducing the paved shoulders from 50 feet of asphalt on each side of the runway to 25 feet, thereby reducing the paved area by nearly seven acres; repairing the navigational aids and airfield lighting systems to allow operations in virtually all weather conditions; and remediating nearly 40,000 tons of contaminated soil.
The Environmental Challenge
Joint Base Andrews includes significant acreage that has been designated by the State as “Tier II” because much of the installation’s land area drains to formally designated high-quality waters pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act. Tier II waters are those which have been rated especially high quality with regard to their biological community characteristics – a determination made by MDE based on field data that has been analyzed using a well-established, environmentally sound methodology. Joint Base Andrews is unique among Maryland’s major installations because of its extensive Tier II drainage.
To accomplish its goal, the Air Force and its selected contractor, Tutor Perini Corporation, began the process of applying for necessary State environmental permits and approvals. Among the required permits was a State nontidal wetlands permit. Because the West Runway project is sited within part of Andrews’ Tier II drainage area, MDE is required to analyze potential impacts on the high quality waters.
Timely Solution!
As part of the State’s commitment to BRAC, MDE undertook an anti-degradation review of the proposed project to determine whether permit requirements proposed in the non-tidal wetlands permit would protect the high-quality waters. This analysis verified that the permit requirements now issued were protective of wetlands and the Tier II waters. The West Runway project demonstrates the State’s water quality protection program is safeguarding Maryland’s designated high-quality waters.
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