Using two advanced, longitudinal joint construction techniques at Michael J. Smith Field in Beaufort, North Carolina, S.T. Wooten Corporation of Wilson, North Carolina, achieved the strict requirements of airport runways without saw cutting the asphalt.
A joint heater and specialized compaction device attached to their paver saved production time while creating high-quality pavement that earned the 2024 Ray Brown Airport Asphalt Pavement Award from the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), presented at NAPA’s 2025 annual meeting.
Recognizing excellence in the construction of airport asphalt pavement, the award is named in honor of Ray Brown, retired Director of the National Center for Asphalt Technology at Auburn University, renowned for its asphalt pavement research.
S.T. Wooten’s $5.1 million project at Michael J. Smith Field rebuilt the old, unlighted Runway 3-21, which hadn’t been used in many years. With the work, the runway’s alignment changed slightly so it was relabeled with the coordinates 4-22. The project also narrowed the existing 150-foot-wide runway to a 75-foot width.
“Our job was to mill up all the old pavement; regrade the subgrade and stabilize it with cement; and rebuild a new, 75-foot runway on top of the cement-stabilized subgrade,” said Len Hunt, S.T. Wooten’s Eastern Commercial Division Manager.
For the paving work, the propane-powered joint heater attached to the paving machine, using burners to heat the asphalt joints.
“It moves along with the paver and makes the joint hot, so when the paver puts down the new asphalt, the joint is already a similar temperature to what we’re laying,” Hunt explained. “The asphalt that was paved the day before was heated to 250 degrees so the new, hot asphalt when placed against it would bond; we weren’t putting hot asphalt against cold asphalt.”
The infrared heating system uniformly heats pavement up to 18 inches wide and 3 inches deep. In addition, a wedge-shaped joint compaction device attached to S.T. Wooten’s paver screed creates pre-compacted, tapered edges for enhanced durability and bonding between courses.
“Using those techniques allowed us to achieve density without saw cutting,” Hunt said. “We had a wedge lap joint that was just as dense, and we didn’t have a vertical joint anymore.”
The process also added another benefit. “This particular paving job was a 45-mile haul from our plant,” Hunt said. “There are no asphalt plants any closer, so getting the asphalt down and keeping the temperature was important.”
For added stability, “We had 4 inches of new asphalt to put down, and we used two 2-inch lifts,” Hunt said. “We staggered the joints so the second joint wouldn’t be directly over the first joint.”
Before paving began on the project, “The grade control we used for fine grading the cement stabilization was as important to the rideability as anything else we did there,” Hunt said.
Crews trimmed the subgrade with the help of a total station placed alongside the runway. That technology controlled the milling head to ensure it met the grade specified in the GPS model.
“The surface was on-grade before we ever started paving, and that helped us meet the tolerances for grade and rideability,” Hunt said.
S.T. Wooten’s Tyler Watkins served as Project Manager and Greg Clark as Superintendent for the runway rebuild. Crews began the grading work in April 2024 and finished paving in August 2024.
