Massport 4R 22L Rehabilitation & Approach Light Pier

East Boston, MA

Runway 4R 22L is one of the busiest runways at the airport. Therefore, the reconstruction of this 10,000-foot-long mill, the overlay of this runway, and the reconstruction of the guidance pier made for a very schedule-driven project. The runway was reconstructed in a 40-day, 24-hour-a-day, 7-day week closure. It was completed in 11 phases by an hourly schedule that was developed. The pier was constructed concurrently with the 40-day closure, followed by 44 consecutive 16-hour runway closures. The pier was redesigned from cast-in-place pier caps and planks to 145-ton precast pier caps and 138-ton planks. This required a 750-ton bridge-mounted Manitowoc Crane on a barge to set them. The pier caps were placed on nine 7’ diameter drilled shafts. The rebar cages were prefabricated in the shop and put in one piece.

Subsurface obstructions arose, which threatened the schedule. McCourt called all the subcontractors and suppliers into a pull planning meeting with Massport to reanalyze the schedule from a back-to-front perspective on an hour-by-hour basis. These pull-planning sessions resulted in several days of schedule recovery.