Airport Development
What is Airport Development?
Airport Development provides engineering and technical assistance to
local, state, and federal governmental units as well as private entities
on airport and aviation matters including planning, construction,
maintenance, and operations of airport facilities; airport economics;
and airport navigational aid facilities.
Listed below are some of the key development areas for NC Airports:
- State Aid to Airports & State Block Grant Program
-
State Aid to Airports is the basic airport aid program of the
North Carolina Department of Transportation. Under the terms of
North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 63, "the Department of
Transportation is hereby authorized to provide State aid in
the forms of loans and grants to cities, counties, and public
airport authorities for the purpose of planning, acquiring,
constructing, or improving municipal, county and other publicly
owned or controlled airport facilities, and to authorize related
programs of aviation safety, promotions, and long-range
planning".
The Division of Aviation administers the
FAA
Block Grant Program along with the State Aid to Airports Program.
The Grant administration function ensures state and federal grant funds
are transferred in a timely manner between the various parties.
- State Block Grant Program
-
States that participate in the State Block Grant Program
assume responsibility for administering Airport Improvement
Program grants at airports classified as "other than
primary" airports — that is, nonprimary commercial service,
reliever, and general aviation airports. Each State is
responsible for determining which locations will receive funds
for ongoing project administration.
The FAA
began this program in 1989 with three States: Illinois,
Missouri, and North Carolina. AIR-21 authorized up to 10 States
to participate. Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
Part 156 contains program requirements.
Under the NCDOT administration of Block Grants, an effort is made
to make all grant processes as seamless as possible. Thus, the
application, approval, and grant management for Block Grants is
identical to that of State Aid to Airports.
Airport sponsors seeking funds for qualifying projects may download the
required forms used by the Division to administer the Grant programs by
clicking on the links below.
- Airport Pavement Management
-
Existing pavement evaluation and design methodologies are primarily
oriented toward larger aircraft, and do not adequately address the
requirements at General Aviation airports, many of which consist of
relatively thin flexible sections.
A two year study was conducted to develop standardized procedures for
nondestructive testing (NDT), evaluation, and design of General Aviation
airport pavement structures; and Analytical software based on layered
elastic design theory for evaluating General Aviation airport pavement
strength and "overload" operations.
This study has provided the NC Division of Aviation, consultants, and
aviation agencies in other states with greater flexibility to:
- Utilize NDT procedures and mechanistic design methods;
- Evaluate changes in operational weights, frequency and type of aircraft;
- Assess occasional, or one time, aircraft "overloads;
- Report pavement strength;
- Estimate theoretical structural life;
- Conduct sensitivity analyses; and
- Extend visually based pavement management systems to include structural analysis.
LEDGA version 1.2 software and documentation is available for
downloading here. You may also call the NCDOT/Aviation office at 919-840-0112 for a
copy of the software on diskette. Or Contact Us.
For more information contact:
Bobby Walston, P.E. NC Division of Aviation -
Contact Us