Airport pavement conditions at Washington state airports have steadily deteriorated since 2005, according to the recently released 2018 Airport Pavement Management System (APMS) report.
The Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation Division evaluated 98 airports, which is an area of 153 million square feet, the equivalent of a two-lane highway stretching from Seattle to San Diego.
WSDOT updates the APMS every three to five years to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the overall pavement area and pavement condition for state airports, state officials note.
The report assessed airport pavements using a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) ranging from 100 to zero (best to worst).
In 2005, the area-weighted PCI was 78. Area-weighted refers to the average PCI adjusted to account for the relative size of the pavement sections. In 2012, the area-weighted PCI dropped to 75, and in 2018, the area-weighted PCI dropped further to 73. This rate of deterioration is concerning, state officials say.
The most current APMS data for large airports including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Spokane International Airport (GEG), and Tri-Cities Airports (PSC) is also incorporated into the WSDOT APMS database.
The area-weighted age of the entire pavement system for 2018 is 25 years. Area-weighted refers to the time since construction or last major rehabilitation.
Approximately 74% of the pavement area, excluding SEA, GEG, and PSC, would benefit from routine and preventive maintenance, and approximately 26% of the pavement area is at the point where major rehabilitation or reconstruction is needed, according to the report’s findings.
Approximately $395.4 million is needed over the next seven years to fund all recommended pavement maintenance and rehabilitation projects at the airports, excluding SEA, GEG, and PSC.
WSDOT and the FAA use APMS data to prioritize state and federal funding for airport projects.
To see statewide summary statistics and individual airport results, visit the Interactive Data Exchange Application (IDEA), which is the online pavement-reporting tool.
The condition of pavement at small airports in Washington State would deteriorate more slowly if preventive maintenance (PM) programs were actually implemented. PMs are actually a requirement of the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants from the FAA, but many small airports are owned and operated by the Port Authorities of the local communities. Major repairs are largely funded by the FAA through AIP funds, but maintenance comes out of the Port’s operating budgets and those are always tight. Still, it is a shame that communities accept the federal grants but do not follow through with the required active PM programs. Minor weed control and crack sealing would go a long way towards extending the life of these airport runways and taxiways. My local airport is 0S9 (Jefferson County) and in the 5 years I’ve been based here there hasn’t been any PM work done on the runway. Despite this neglect, the runway is still above the state of wear predicted by Washington State’s Department of Transportation/Aviation Division. Per the WSDOT/Aviation formula, the predicted pavement condition index at 0S9 in 2018 was 59, but the actual PCI was 67. The critical PCI for our airport runway is 65. That is the point where rehabilitation with an overlay is recommended. Just imagine how much longer the runway at 0S9 would have lasted if a simple and reasonable preventive maintenance program had been implementd!