“Leonardo da Vinci” Rome Fiumicino Airport, Airside System – Runway “16L/34R” (Runway 3), Rehabilitation of pavement structures

Runway 16L/34R, measuring 3,902 meters in length and 60 m in width, is of fundamental importance to Fiumicino airport, as it alone accounts for circa 70% of all aircraft landings at the airport.
Built in the early ’70s on clay-rich compressible land, the runway has been subject to foundation subsidence over the years such as to determine a significant reduction of its altitude and transverse gradient.
The aim of the project is to restore the runway to its original plano-altimetric conditions, strengthen the rainwater drainage system and guarantee adequate structural characteristics to the expected future air traffic.
The works will focus on paved areas and the adjacent green areas within the premises pertaining to the runway, comprising also the parallel taxiway ”Delta” and the 10 links connecting the two infrastructures.
The works include the renovation of the lighting systems of the whole infrastructural system through the replacement of all light signals and pre-existing vertical tables with next-generation LED signals and signage.
The project features all the latest technical innovations of the global airport industry, consisting in the operating methods adopted for a 125 m stretch of runway experiencing major subsidence.
To significantly reduce the load on the foundations of said runway stretch,  the project provides for the replacement of most of the existing embankment, made up of traditional “heavy” material, with an innovative artificial light material called “foam glass”, produced from recycled glass by a thermal process. This new material was selected through extensive laboratory tests and preliminarily tested on a specific test field.
During the works for the rehabilitation of runway 16L/34R, the latter will be closed to air traffic for a period of 134 days. During this period, in order to guarantee the full operativeness of the airport, all the flight operations normally carried out from the aforesaid runway will be transferred to the subsidiary runway 16C/34C, which was also previously rehabilitated and equipped for the purpose.