Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area

  • Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
     Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
  • Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
     Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
  • Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
     Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
  • Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV
     Mercer County Airport Runway Safety Area, Bluefield, WV

The Runway 23 Runway Safety Area project involved the placement of over 425,000 cubic yards of select fill; 25,000 cubic yards of select embankment (granular fill) for shear key construction; and the incorporation of a drainage layer in the fill slope. Additionally, geogrid reinforcement was required in the northwest corner of the embankment, as the embankment slope had to be steepened to 1.75:1 in order to avoid relocating a county road. The project also included re-marking the runway and portions of the parallel taxiway, installing additional airfield lighting and signage fixtures and cables, and temporarily relocating portions of the Federal Aviation Administration’s instrument landing system. Two on-airport borrow/excavation areas were delineated on the plans, and the removal of material from these areas provided the Mercer County Airport Authority the corollary benefit of clearing significant areas of rising terrain that obstructs the protected airspace immediately surrounding the runway.

In 2019, an airfield improvement project was completed to rehabilitate the existing asphalt surface of Runway 5/23. The project consisted of pavement milling to achieve minor surface grade correction, and overlaying the runway surface with two inches of P-401 HMA pavement. The rehabilitation project also included pavement grooving and new airfield pavement markings.