GRANT ASSURANCE 11 PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE

By not knowing this requirement, or ignoring it on purpose, constitutes non-compliance.  This Grant assurance is common knowledge among airport operators.  See 7.5 below.

11. Pavement Preventive Maintenance. With respect to a project approved after

January 1, 1995, for the replacement or reconstruction of pavement at the airport, it assures or

certifies that it has implemented an effective airport pavement maintenance-management

program and it assures that it will use such program for the useful life of any pavement

constructed, reconstructed or repaired with federal financial assistance at the airport. It will

provide such reports on pavement condition and pavement management programs as the

Secretary determines may be useful.

5190.6b

7.3. Grant Assurance 19, Operation and Maintenance. Grant Assurance 19, Operation and

Maintenance, is the most encompassing federal grant assurance related to airport maintenance.

It requires the sponsor to operate and maintain the airport’s aeronautical facilities – including

pavement – in a safe and serviceable condition in accordance with the standards set by applicable

federal, state, and local agencies. FAA pavement guidance applies.

7.4. Maintenance Procedures. Generally, airport agreements require the sponsor to carry out a

continuing program of preventive and remedial maintenance. The maintenance program is

intended to ensure that the airport facilities are at all times in good and serviceable condition to

use in the way they were designed. Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5380-7A, Airport Pavement

Management Program, discusses the Airport Pavement Management System (APMS) concept,

its essential components, and how it can be used to make cost-effective decisions about

pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. The airport agreement may express or imply such

maintenance requirements and include specific federal obligations such as:

a. Frequently check all structures for deterioration and repair.

b. Inspect runways, taxiways, and other common-use paved areas at regular intervals to ensure

compliance with operational and maintenance standards, to prevent progressive pavement

deterioration, and to make routine repairs such as filling and sealing cracks.

c. Inspect gravel runways, taxiways, and common-use paved areas at regular intervals to ensure

compliance with operational and maintenance standards, to prevent progressive deterioration of

operation areas, and to make routine repairs including filling holes and grading.

d. Inspect turf airfields at regular intervals to ensure there are no holes or depressions, and

otherwise to ensure that all turf areas are preserved through clearing, seeding, fertilizing, and

mowing.

e. Maintain field lighting and Visual Approach Slope Indicators (VASIs) in a safe and operable

condition at all times. When conditions dictate, realign VASIs on a regular basis.

f. Maintain airfield signage in a safe and operable condition at all times.

g. Frequently inspect segmented circles and wind cones to ensure accurate readings and proper

functioning.

h. Frequently inspect all drainage structures including subdrain outlets to ensure unobstructed

drainage.

i.                    Frequently check all approaches to ensure conformance with federal obligations.

7.5. Criteria for Satisfactory Compliance with Grant Assurance 19, Operation and

Maintenance.

Although an acceptable level of maintenance is difficult to express in measurable units, the FAA

will consider a sponsor compliant with its federal maintenance obligation when the sponsor does

the following:

a. Fully understands that airport facilities must be kept in a safe and serviceable condition.

b. Makes available the equipment, personnel, funds, and other resources, including contract

arrangements, to implement an effective maintenance program.

c. Adopts and implements a detailed program of cyclical preventive maintenance adequate to

carry out this commitment.

7.6. Airport Pavement Maintenance Requirement. A parallel assurance to Grant

Assurance 19, Operation and Maintenance, is the airport sponsor’s federal obligation to maintain

a pavement preventive maintenance program under Grant Assurance 11, Pavement Preventive

Maintenance. This assurance requires sponsors with federally funded pavement projects for

replacement or reconstruction approved after January 1, 1995, to implement an effective

pavement maintenance and management program that runs for the useful life of any pavement

constructed, reconstructed, or repaired with federal financial assistance. The program, at a

minimum, must include (a) a pavement inventory, (b) annual and periodic inspections in

accordance with AC 150/5380-6B, Guidelines and Procedures for Maintenance of Airport

Pavements, (c) a record keeping and information retrieval system, and (d) identification of

maintenance program funding.

d. Pavement Recordkeeping. Complete information concerning all inspections and

maintenance performed should be recorded and kept on file. The severity level of existing

distress types, their locations, their probable causes, remedial actions, and results of follow up

inspection and maintenance should be documented. In addition, the file should contain

information on potential problem areas and preventive or corrective measures identified.

Records of materials and equipment used to perform all maintenance and repair work should also

be kept on file for future reference. Such records may be used later in identifying materials and

remedial measures that may reduce maintenance costs and improve pavement serviceability.