 | This aerial photo of the JFK Bay Runway project shows the work in progress. The 18-inch overlay was progressing nicely. | | | Gibraltar Rock Inc., a division of the Silvi Group Companies, headquartered in Fairless Hills, PA, is wrapping up the delivery of 260,000 tons of stone used to manufacture ready mix concrete on site in the JFK Airport Bay Runway reconstruction. The $376 million reconstruction project will enable the airport to handle more planes more efficiently while reducing departure and arrival delays. The Bay Runway reconstruction, managed by Tutor Perini Corporation of Peekskill, NY, consists of the reconstruction and widening the 14,572-foot long runway from 150 to 200-foot. The widening allows for high speed exits for landing aircrafts and establishes holding areas for aircraft being held on the tarmac to be bypassed by other aircraft. The reconstruction will also abandon traditional asphalt overlay applications and instead install an 18-inch concrete overlay, which will reduce delays and provide long term maintenance savings due to the longer lifespan of the concrete (approximately 40 years). Runway reconstruction began in July of 2009 and is expected to be completed at the end of 2011. During this time, the runway was only closed for 120 days in 2010.
Gibraltar Rock has been supplying a mixture of No. 3’s, No. 8’s and No. 57 stone at a pace of 75-100 truck loads a day from their Belle Mead, NJ quarry to the Airport location in Queens, NY, a 75 mile haul which includes trips through the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. Utilizing their two on site concrete plants, Tutor Perini has been able to pour upwards of 5,000 yards of concrete a day for a total of 190,000 cubic yards. Gibraltar Rock was selected as the supplier for the runway expansion because of its ability to handle the volume of daily deliveries as well as the hardness of the stone, which was required as a specification because of the stringent Port Authority demands. “The quality and hardness of the stone allowed us (Tutor Perini) to exceed difficult specifications on this project,” said Damon Petrillo, project manager for Tutor Perini. The New York/New Jersey Port Authority approved the Gibraltar Rock stone after extensive material testing and inspection of the Belle Mead facility.
Gibraltar Rock purchased the 1438 acre Belle Mead Quarry from the 3M Corporation in June 2009 and began full production in October that year. Along with the No. 3’s, No. 8’s and No. 57’s, Gibraltar Rock also produces DGA (Dense Graded Aggregate), Screenings, Ballast, Rail Ballast, Jetty Rock and Rip Rap. All three NY, NJ and PA transportation authorities approve Gibraltar Rock’s stone products. Proven reserves at Gibraltar Rock of Belle Mead exceed 250 million tons. The plant is rated at 1,000 tons/hour. The facility is also equipped with rail load out capabilities and recently began shipping railroad ballast to regional rail carrier CSX for their rail line repairs, taking advantage of Gibraltar Rock’s unique density inherent to their rock.
The Silvi Group, was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Fairless Hills, PA. Today, the Silvi Group consists of three companies: Silvi Concrete (with 7 ready mix concrete plants in Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey), Sahara Sand (with 3 licensed sand mines in NJ and 1 in PA), Riverside Construction Materials (with a state of the art cement and aggregate import terminal on the Delaware River, in Bristol, PA) and Gibraltar Rock (Belle Mead and an upcoming greenfield hard rock quarry in suburban Philadelphia). For more information regarding Gibraltar Rock of Belle Mead or the Silvi Group Companies, contact Don Carpani at 267-566-1804.
Source: Port Authority of NY & NJ web site -panynj.info- February
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