The City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation’s Taxiway J rehabilitation project at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) obtained Envision Verified status for integrating principles of sustainability into the taxiway’s design and construction. PHL is one of only 12 airports in the United States- and the first project in Pennsylvania- to have completed an Envision-verified project since the program’s start in 2010.

“This outstanding achievement for the Department of Aviation and PHL is the result of several years of hard work by our Capital Development Group and the project’s contractors,” said airport CEO Atif Saeed. “The Department of Aviation’s engineers incorporate sustainability into the design and construction of all airfield projects, and that fosters airport development that is safe, clean and green. The Envision Verified status demonstrates to our passengers, our city and our industry how committed we are to a sustainable future.”

The Envision rating system was established by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure to encourage sustainability and resiliency of infrastructure projects and rewards a project’s performance across 64 sustainability criteria promoting of community, quality of life, management, planning, materials, energy, water, environmental impacts, emissions, and resilience. The Envision verification is comparable to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) verification administered by the U.S. Green Building Association, but instead of buildings, it targets infrastructure.

“The Envision verification award indicates that the Taxiway J Rehabilitation project has gone above and beyond to deliver improvements in social, economic, and environmental conditions,” said Department of Aviation Sustainability Manager Jessica Noon. PHL stakeholders, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airlines, air traffic control tower and airport tenants were engaged in the development of the Envision verification submittal.

PHL has almost 60 taxiways that allow aircraft to access the airport’s four runways. Taxiway J also provides aircraft with critical queuing access to PHL’s deicing apron. In addition to upgrading the pavement between Taxiways J and Z, PHL’s Capital Development team expanded the project scope to include intersection of Taxiways J and Taxiway Y to improve safety for the overall airfield and create more efficient taxiway operations. The project includes:

• Using 25 percent recycled-content slag cement in the concrete paving.
• Repurposing concrete demolition waste. 
• Installing airfield lighting that provides routing, guidance, and surveillance for improved control of aircraft and vehicles during various weather conditions.
• Updating airfield lighting and signage from traditional incandescent bulbs to more energy-efficient LED bulbs, reducing operational energy consumption by a projected 55 percent.
• Converting .18 acres of unneeded pavement back to pervious grass cover.

The Taxiway J Rehabilitation Project was designed by RS&H, Inc. and constructed by contractor JJ Anderson, with project management by Michael Baker International and construction management by JMT. Construction is currently underway and is expected to be completed this fall. The upgrade’s total cost was $28 million. The Department of Aviation received $20,694,815 in funding for the project from two FAA grants.