The Hutchinson Municipal Airport – Butler Field Runway 15/33, Taxiway, and Apron Reclamation Project was selected by the Minnesota Council of Airports for the MCOA Project of the Year – Intermediate Airport Award on April 21.
Runway 15/33, Taxiway A, and the Apron were originally constructed in 1994, using sawed and sealed joints at regular intervals. The pavement section consisted of four inches of bituminous pavement on six inches of aggregate base on 20 inches of sand subbase. The pavements were all in need of major rehabilitation or reconstruction. In conversations with the MnDOT Office of Aeronautics and FAA, State Apportionment funding would be made available to the City of Hutchinson to complete major rehabilitation work on the pavements.
To maximize the Federal, State, and Local funding available, Bolton & Menk proposed reclaiming the existing bituminous and underlying aggregate base as base course, and paving four inches of new bituminous over the top. This process is commonly known as Full-Depth Reclamation (FDR).
Construction on the project began in August, 2015 and will be completed by the end of October. The total cost of the project was $2.2 million; substantially less than if full reconstruction was proposed.
Pilots began complimenting the City of the vastly improved ride quality of the Runway immediately upon opening to traffic. The safety of aircraft operating at the Airport has improved immensely with completion of this project.
