The American Concrete Pavement Association, Southeast Chapter recently announce that the Cobb County Airport-McCollum Field Runway 9-27 Widening and Overlay, Phase II was named Airport Project of the Year in the General Aviation Category by the American Association of Airport Executives, Southeast Chapter on May 5, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
The Cobb County Airport-McCollum Field is the first general aviation facility within the FAA-Southern Region-Atlanta ADO to use Whitetopping on a runway. Whitetopping, a concrete overlay of asphalt – pending its applications, can be placed at depths ranging from 2 to 8 inches. Whitetopping does not rut and works with milling allowing the grade to be maintained. With its high albedo, concrete pavement surfaces are used in LEED projects to reduce heat island effect. Whitetopping is price competitive; the concrete option on this airport paving project was within three percent of the asphalt bid. Concrete overlays can be placed on asphalt that is in very poor condition.
Greg Dean, director of airports for ACPA-SE, nominated this project and was present to observe the award presentation to Karl Von Hagel, AAE, airport manager of the Cobb County Airport-McCollum Field. The staff for this breakthrough project represented the FAA-Atlanta ADO, The LPA Group, design engineer – led by Mike Reiter, Georgia DOT Aviation Programs, and Six-S, Inc., the prime contractor.
