Fifth Runway Embankment Project

Project Details

Adding a fifth runway to Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport brought with it tremendous job site requirements that called on Matthews' keenest problem solving abilities. The $360 million project required clearing and grubbing more than 600 acres of land, demolishing existing structures, installing more than 6 miles of drainage lines and subgrade substrata work to prepare existing ground for up to 90' of fill material.

Necessary fill required placement of more than 18 million cubic yards of embankment. To avoid damage to existing roadways, material transport was made by utilizing a complex loading and unloading overland conveyor system five miles long. Creation of the five-mile conveyor system to move materials to the site required the latest modeling technologies. Four scalping plants, two primary crushers and two portable crushers were constructed to load overland conveyor with material. Scalping Plants sieved out rocks, allowing soil to be placed directly onto the overland conveyor. Material that would not clear the blades was then crushed and blasted onsite. Extensive 3-dimensional modeling and construction of this unique conveyor. Truck loading system handled 18 million cubic yards of material with 3-second accuracy.