BWI to try artificial turf on runways

The green stuff lining runways at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport may not be grass a year from now.

Airport officials are planning to replace 27,150 square feet of real grass at two intersecting runways with a special artificial turf designed for airports.

"The goal is to see how the turf performs compared to regular grass," said Cheryl Stewart, a BWI spokesman. "If the turf is durable enough, it may save maintenance because we won't have to cut grass in the (test) area."

Regular grass must be mowed by airport staff about once a month. During the mowing, runways must be shut down, so the work is usually scheduled late at night when flight volume is low.

If the test program proves satisfactory, BWI would gradually replace grass at other runways, ultimately removing all of its natural grass, Ms. Stewart said. She declined to speculate on the cost of the test program because the airport hasn't selected a company to perform the installation yet.

But Steve Rogerson, operations manager for Montreal-based Air FieldTurf, said his company charges between $3 to $5 a square foot for an installation. Using those figures, the company would charge between $81,000 and $136,000 to handle BWI's test program.

"It is expensive, but over time you see a massive amount of cost savings," Mr. Rogerson said. "The first major reason for airports to do this was to stop erosion. Also, the material doesn't support any food or nutrients, so it won't attract birds or other wildlife. A lot of airports have problems with birds congregating on patches of grass and this caused bird strikes on runways."

The artificial turf itself is a specialty item, a product just beginning to gain traction at airports across the country.

"It's made from a mixture of sand and rubber. The fibers are manufactured with green pigmentation," Mr. Rogerson said. "For airports, we use a thicker fiber that's abrasive, so airplanes rolling off the runway onto the turf can slow down more easily."

Once sold and installed, the turf is under warranty for eight years, though it can theoretically last between 15 to 20 years, Mr. Rogerson said.

His company is actually a division of the FieldTurf Tarkett group, which traditionally produces turf for sports facilities. It's one of only two companies that manufactures and installs "aviation-grade" turf, which Mr. Rogerson said is designed to withstand exposure to high temperatures and jet exhaust. The other company is Michigan-based AvTurf, essentially the only other competitor in a burgeoning niche market.

"A lot of airports are swinging over (to artificial turf) on the maintenance cost," Mr. Rogerson said. "That alone is sparking a lot of interest. It's just a matter of good marketing to the engineers and planners that this works."

Air FieldTurf has performed installations at Boston's Logan International airport, Honolulu International Airport and JFK International Airport on Long Island, among others. AvTurf's clients include Chicago O'Hare International Airport and the U.S. Air Force Academy Airfield in Colorado Springs.

Though BWI is still in the planning phase, Ms. Stewart said work on the test area is likely to begin within a year and would take 90 days to complete.