A new, 3,500-space parking garage won’t be the only thing under construction at McGhee Tyson Airport next year. As airport staff work to bring parking supply in sync with demand, construction is also planned on another essential part of airport operations: a runway.
The work on one of the airport’s two runways is anticipated to begin around mid-2025 and last for three to four years, airport Director of Design and Construction Eric Williamson said. The project, which is estimated to cost about $50 million, won’t affect operations.
Williamson put it more simply in a phone interview Friday, May 31.
“The airport will be able to operate normally with one runway,” he said.
Airport runways, he said, often operate on a 20-year lifespan. McGhee Tyson’s runways are similar in size, but construction on one in 2015 meant the other bore the brunt of what Williamson called “one of the steepest times of growth in our history.”
“That limited the amount of downtime and accelerated its aging,” he said.
That means it’s almost time for the runway to be redone, or “rehabilitated.” The process, which will take place in three phases, includes a range of work including engineering and electrical, drainage improvement, and moving earth.
“We have a program of preventative maintenance, and that’s where you get into sealing cracks and maintaining markings, removing and patching bad spots and the like,” Williamson said. “But this is a rehabilitation project. It’s a proactive step since the pavement is near the end of its life.”
The actual work on the asphalt will depend on the section under construction. This runway, dubbed “5 right 23 left,” or “5R/23L” is closer to the terminal, 10% shorter than its sibling and has a varied history. After starting as a 3,000-foot concrete strip, 5R/23L has grown to 9,000 feet with an asphalt top.
Some of that asphalt is laid over the old concrete, while in other sections the asphalt is up to 2 feet thick. That means parts of the runway can be milled down and repaved, while others must be ground down to subsurface and redone almost completely.
FAA standards have changed since the runway was constructed, Williamson said, meaning the work must bring the surface up to modern criteria.
The airport is working with the FAA to ensure the finished product is up to par. Last week, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board approved a $1.8 million work authorization for staff, alongside the FAA and contractors CHA Consulting to cover survey and testing, design, project management and other work associated with the task.
“From here on out, we are in the project,” Williamson said. Staff still need to gather some data before they can move forward, but if all goes to plan, construction can begin next year.
That means six-month construction stretches with the runway open for use between. After that, Williamson said, “We should be out of the runway reconstruction business for a few years.”
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