Taxiway N Improvements

This project encompassed an entire rehabilitation of DAB’s busiest piece of pavement, Taxiway N, including the eleven connector taxiways and a realignment of Taxiway A to a perpendicular alignment with Taxiway W; both designed to meet new criteria in FAA-AC 150/5300-13A. Taxiway N is a parallel and primary taxiway servicing Runway 7L-25R and the air-carrier apron. Taxiway N is 75’ wide and approximately 10,500’ long with 25’ paved shoulders.  The project also included removal and reconstruction of Taxiway N5, P4 and P5 to eliminate a direct runway access. These measures were taken to greatly enhance safety on the airfield, in congruence with FAA’s Runway Incursion Mitigation (RIM) program. The taxiway had been continuously used by commercial traffic and student pilots for over 20 years without any rehabilitation and exhibited varying pavement distresses. With each of the taxiways listed above, the lighting, marking and signage was also replaced/upgraded.

Construction Phasing and Sequencing: Multiple construction phasing and sequencing alternatives were developed during the design phase. In the early stages of design the airport staff and design team held numerous workshops with the airport users to refine the construction alternatives with the goal of maximizing contractor work areas while minimizing disruptions to airport operations. The teams met until a safe and economical solution remained. Phasing plans were adjusted based on weather and special events such as the Daytona 500, requiring spectacular communication throughout all parties involved. Ultimately, the project was divided into 24 construction phases over the two-year construction period. The result was an “incident-free” major airfield enhancement on an otherwise uniquely active airfield.