Boston Airport’s New Green Asphalt Runway

Boston Logan International Airport – one of the most actively-used airports in the US – has embraced new environmental construction technologies, it emerged on September 19th.   Boston Logan has six runways – two more than London Heathrow – and one of these is now being re-laid with so-called “green” asphalt. 

Asphalt of this kind is labelled “green” since it is exposed to lower temperatures when being laid, meaning less fuel is burned and thus emissions are lowered.  Specific to the Boston runway, the implications of this have acted to lower associated CO2 emissions by 4,000 tons. 

Green Asphalt

The official term for green asphalt is ‘warm-mix asphalt’ (abbreviated to WMA) – an obvious reference to the lower temperatures.  As well as offering a reduced carbon footprint, WMA has practical advantages too – surfaces featuring it are able to be put into use more rapidly than with traditional asphalt. 

Although a number of airports in Europe already have one, Boston Airport’s new green runway is unprecedented in the US.  Because of this, the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) put the asphalt through rigorous testing prior to clearing it for use. 

Officials expect Boston Airport Runway 9/27 (the numbers refer to the runway’s heading compared to points of the compass – 90 degrees and 270 degrees in this case) to re-open before 2009 is out.  Construction on it got underway in July 2009, and the overall cost of this green airport project is twelve-and-a-half million dollars.

Green Runway Technology

Green runway technology isn’t the only environmental directive underway at Boston Logan, however.  A substantial amount of money is presently being injected into replacing the airport’s network of diesel-powered luggage vehicles with new, electric versions.  These should be put into operation around Terminal A before too long. 

Earlier in 2009, Enviro-News reported on LiTraCon – light-transmitting concrete.  It is envisaged that future buildings constructed out of this material could be considerably better for the environment, and to read more about LiTraCon, please click on the highlighted link. 

See also:

Airline KLM in Waste-to-Electricity Conversion Project