Airport growth is big news in Middle Tennessee. Nashville International Airport, known as BNA, is working on its New Horizon program. It’s a plan worth about $3 billion. Design started in 2022, and the work runs in phases toward 2029. A job this big needs a civil engineering company that knows airfields, not just buildings and roads.

Airport work has rules most projects don’t. Planes are heavy. Runways and taxiways must stay open. New pavement has to meet old pavement at the right height, down to fractions of an inch. A civil engineering company brings the design skill and records to make each phase safe to build. 

Turning an Airport Capital Program Into Buildable Civil Work Packages

A civil engineering company takes a big expansion and breaks it into smaller design packages. Each package covers one clear part of the job. That could be pavement, grading, aircraft aprons, service areas, or the spots where new work meets what’s already there.

Breaking the work this way sets firm limits. Everyone knows where one scope ends and the next starts. That matters on an airfield. A grading package and an apron package may share the same edge and the same drainage.

The engineer also shows how the packages depend on each other. Grading has to finish before paving starts. Utility lines under an apron go in before the concrete. When the engineer plans these links early, no crew sits waiting on another.

BNA’s New Horizon program shows the scale. Its early airside phase adds ramp and apron space plus a new deicing ramp. Each one ties into pavement that planes still use. Tennessee’s aviation programs help pay for work like this. They cover pavement, terminal, safety and airport-access projects across the state.

Matching Airfield Pavement Design to the Future Aircraft Fleet

A civil engineering company designs airport pavement for planes, not cars or trucks. The engineer studies the aircraft types the airport expects. They check how each plane’s weight sits on its landing gear, how often planes fly, and how long the pavement must last.

Landing gear makes a big difference. A small jet rides on simple gear. A wide-body can have a triple-dual-tandem layout that spreads a much larger load across many wheels. The pavement section is the stack of material layers and their thickness. It has to carry those loads for years without cracking.

The soil under the pavement counts too. Engineers test the subgrade, the packed ground below, to see how well it holds a load. Weak soil means thicker or stronger layers on top.

The FAA sets the design rules. The main guide is Advisory Circular 150/5320-6G. Engineers run the numbers through a program called FAARFIELD 2.0. The FAA requires this method for any project it helps pay for through the Airport Improvement Program. The same guide says it does not cover roadways or parking lots. A design made for a store parking lot would fail fast under a loaded jet.

Engineering Temporary Airfield Configurations Around Active Operations

Most airports stay open during expansion. So the engineer designs temporary layouts that let planes keep moving. This means short-term taxi routes, pavement transitions, barricade lines and fresh markings that guide pilots around the work zone.

These temporary designs are real engineering, not just cones on the ground. A temporary taxi route still has to carry aircraft weight and meet live pavement at a safe grade. Barricades must sit far enough from moving planes to keep safe clearance. Markings have to match what pilots expect, and crews cover old marks so no one follows the wrong line.

Phasing ties it all together. The engineer plans each stage to connect to the airfield safely, without closing more of the airport than needed. Federal rules for building on an active airport call for a Construction Safety and Phasing Plan, or CSPP. It spells out how each phase keeps operations safe. A civil engineering company writes the civil side of that plan, so crews and controllers stay on the same page.

Controlling Elevations at Apron, Taxiway, and Building Tie-In Points

The tightest work is where new pavement meets old aprons, taxiways, hangars or terminal doors. A civil engineering company controls the height at these spots. That way water drains right, and the surface stays smooth for aircraft and jet bridges.

Engineers set fixed height points across the site. They check new grades against these points before crews pour any concrete. Aircraft pavement allows only small slope changes over a set distance. A transition can look fine on paper and still be too steep in the field.

Catching problems early saves real money. The engineer runs constructability checks. These compare the new design grades with the measured field heights and flag clashes before crews show up. A door that sits an inch off, or an apron that drains toward a hangar, costs far more to fix after the pour than on the plan.

Creating Digital Closeout Records for Future Airport Improvements

When construction ends, a civil engineering company sorts the records the airport will use for years. Good closeout records give owners a solid place to start for upkeep and the next phase. Sloppy records force the next team to re-survey and guess.

The engineer gathers several kinds of data:

• Record drawings that show what crews really built, plus any approved field changes
• Verified survey coordinates and heights tied to the airport’s control points
• Pavement details, such as layer types, thicknesses and materials
• Test results for soil, concrete and asphalt
• Digital asset data set up for the airport’s mapping system, often FAA Airports GIS

Airports track pavement health over time with a Pavement Condition Index that follows a standard called ASTM D5340. Clean closeout data feeds that tracking. Years later, the airport may plan another apron or taxiway, and the records show what sits under the surface with no need to dig.