Fast track planning and design and build of a new runway at Mthatha airport Emile Horak Ndodana Consulting Engineers Pty Ltd, Centurion, South Africa Stephen Emery KUBU Australia, Pty, Ltd, Perth, Australia Arno Hefer Ndodana Consulting Engineers, Centurion South Africa Sarel Lacante Lacante Consulting Engineering, Tsumeb, Namibia Piet Agema DeltaBEC, Pretoria, South Africa, previously with ACSA Abstract— Mthatha Airport was a small regional airport in a remote part of South Africa, close to the home of the late Nelson Mandela. It was expected to play a key role during Mandela’s funeral, but the existing airside infrastructure was inadequate to cater for the international high visibility event. Authorities moved to improve the airside infrastructure as matter of national priority and urgency. This resulted in the fast track planning, design and build project of a new FAA group V/ICAO Code 4E runway at Mthatha airport. The upgrade had to be completed within 8 months, and before the funeral occurred. This paper describes the following technical aspects; • Planning the runway geometric layout and obstacle limitation surfaces. • Procurement of quality materials and innovative drainage provisions in a high rainfall region. • Pavement design using FAARFIELD, then adjusting to local materials and design norms using linear elastic models. • Adapt the fast track approach to the opportunities offered by materials and paving technologies available in this remote region. • Rapid stage construction solutions to enable emergency use of the airport by large aircraft in case the high visibility event occurred prematurely. This project was successfully completed within the short time limits and interim goals of possible emergency use. The technical challenges led to a number of innovative material and design utilizations in a logistical challenging remote rural area. The project was set within a fast tracked procurement process and shifting responsible client government implementing agencies. Keywords: Fast –track, design-build, ultra-thin friction course (UTFC), bitumen stabilised material (BSM), jointed concrete pavement(JCP), apron, falling weight deflectometer, runway end safety area (RESA), drainage, environmental impact assessment, cement stabilized base and subbase (CSB and CSSB), FAARfield, stage construction, high visibility event (HVE), pavement classification number (PCN), Aircraft classification number (ACN). I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Mthatha Airport was a small regional airport serving Mthatha and the central regional district of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The airport had a main runway with length 2000 metres and width 23 metres, and a disused grass secondary runway. The anticipated funeral of Nelson Mandela prompted governmental inter-departmental planning and coordination for such an anticipated event which was a real possibility during 2011-2012. Mthatha Airport was the airport serving the district of Qunu, which is the home of Nelson Mandela, and this was expected to be his final destination. Mthatha Airport was therefore identified as a crucial logistic and transport hub for the anticipated influx of various international VIPs and Heads of State. The geographical position of Qunu and the Mthatha airport are indicated on the southern Africa map. The national main gateway, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg would serve as the first port of call. The logistical analysis and planning found that Mthatha airport could only be used for 30 seater sized aircraft on a “drop and go” basis with limited apron capacity. The improvement of airside infrastructure capacity at Mthatha airport was therefore seen as of paramount importance. CAPSA 2015 – Peer reviewed published papers