Project Overview
Located near Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska, Kuparuk is the second-largest oil field in North America and has produced over 2.5 billion barrels of oil since 1981. The Kuparuk Airport (UBW) provides critical access for personnel traveling to and from the field. Originally constructed in the early 1980s with a gravel surface, the airport’s runway required frequent maintenance, caused excessive wear on aircraft, and could only accommodate aircraft equipped with gravel kits.
To mitigate these issues, improve safety, and accommodate a modern jet aircraft fleet, PND provided design, permitting support, constructability review, and logistical planning to substantially upgrade the runway across multiple years. Renovations included expanding the runway length and width, insulating the new and existing embankment, increasing embankment thickness for thermal mitigation, paving the runway with asphalt, and adding a new in-pavement lighting system, approach lighting system, and instrument landing and weather systems. The project also added new equipment shelters and a new air traffic coordination building. The runway upgrades exceeded all established quality criteria, delivered the highest level of runway and approach lighting service in the U.S. Arctic, and require minimal maintenance while continuing to provide excellent service to Kuparuk passengers.
Our Role
- Arctic Engineering: performed detailed thermal modeling and tailored our runway design for long-term performance durability in the face of thaw-sensitive permafrost and extreme Arctic conditions
- Civil Engineering: designed airport geometry―including the runway, taxiway, apron, and runway safety area―and delivered a range of runway upgrades such as subbase improvements, insulation, locally sourced crushed aggregate development, warm-mix asphalt pavement, runway extensions/striping, in-pavement/touchdown zone lighting foundations, instrument landing system design, and Airports Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) support for Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aircraft approach development and FAA runway as-built support.
- Construction Engineering: directed project phasing and selected quality materials such as warm asphalt
- Geotechnical Engineering: recently performed a post-construction geotechnical program to investigate mitigation of permafrost cracks in the runway
Comprehensive Design for a Modern, Safe, Durable Arctic Runway
PND delivered a full suite of airport design services to support modern aircraft and long-term performance at the Kuparuk runway. In addition to arctic, civil, and geotechnical engineering, PND prepared four separate phases of complete design documents to facilitate sequential construction. PND developed permit drawings, provided cost estimates, evaluated material sources, and supported construction execution planning for each phase. We also developed an erosion and sediment control plan, construction safety and phasing plan, and FAA GIS documentation to support approach procedure development and flight checks for maximum flight safety.
PND’s design was informed by our substantial work on similar projects in the Arctic. We carefully evaluated local materials sources, analyzed and addressed subgrade permafrost thaw sensitivity, and accommodated restricted site access and short construction seasons. All work followed the latest Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities, FAA, and AASHTO guidelines, ensuring reliable long-term runway performance for the Kuparuk development.
Feet
of gravel airfield
Linear Feet
of tundra trenching
