Santa Elena de Uairén Airport
Project sheet
- Sector
- Transportation
- Client
- Ministerio de Infraestructura (MINFRA)
- Location
- Santa Elena de Uairén, Bolívar State, Venezuela
- Year
- 2003
- Investment
- Over 9 billion bolívares
- Vialpa Role
- Runway, platform and asphalt pavement completion
Project overview
Completion of the runway at the Santa Elena de Uairén Airport in southern Bolívar State, entrusted to Vialpa at the end of 2003. The runway is 1,650 meters long and 32 meters wide, with an aircraft parking platform of 9,600 square meters. The entire runway is covered with a 12-centimeter-thick hot asphalt mix over 70,000 square meters of pavement, using 19,500 tons of hot asphalt mix. Once the reconstruction and extension of the old platform were completed, the new airstrip was put into service in May 2005, allowing larger aircraft to reach the Gran Sabana border town. The facility drives regional economic development through tourism, better connectivity to mining areas, and improved support to indigenous communities.
The Challenge
Construct and commission an airport runway in a remote area of southern Venezuela, ensuring asphalt pavement quality and enabling operations of larger aircraft for a Gran Sabana border community with tourism, mining, and indigenous-community support needs.
Vialpa Scope
Runway completion (1,650 m × 32 m); construction of the aircraft parking platform (9,600 m²); paving with 12 cm hot asphalt mix over 70,000 m²; supply and installation of 19,500 tons of hot asphalt mix; reconstruction and extension of the existing platform; and commissioning of the new runway.
Engineering / Construction Approach
Comprehensive airport civil-works management with hot-mix asphalt quality control at plant and on-site, logistics coordination for material supply in a remote area, and scheduled execution to achieve commissioning in May 2005 under operational requirements for larger aircraft.
Operational Constraints
Execution in a remote area of southern Bolívar State, with logistical constraints for the supply of aggregates and asphalt, and the need to enable operations of larger aircraft to serve the Gran Sabana.
Technical Highlights
- 1,650 m × 32 m runway with 9,600 m² aircraft parking platform
- 70,000 m² of pavement with 12 cm hot asphalt mix
- 19,500 tons of hot asphalt mix supplied and installed
- Put into service in May 2005, enabling larger aircraft to reach the Gran Sabana
Key Quantities
Photographic archive and field execution
Original photographic field documentation of road execution, structures, concrete barriers and earthmoving by Constructora Vialpa.
Aerial view of completed 1,650 m × 32 m runway: compliant threshold and centerline striping, turnaround loop, and 9,600 m² aircraft apron in the Gran Sabana
Aerial panorama of subgrade formation and compaction: complete 1,650 m longitudinal alignment, lateral grading, and platform/taxiway preparation
Ground perspective of compacted granular base course with surveyed centerline prior to placement of 70,000 m² of 12 cm hot-mix asphalt
Continuous hot-mix asphalt plant mobilized on-site: aggregate cold-feed bins, conveyors, and drum mixer-dryer delivering 19,500 tons of asphalt
ADM vertical asphalt storage and discharge silo with dump truck at site staging yard and sorted aggregate stockpiles
