Runway 7-25, the main runway at Santa Barbara, was experiencing significant block cracking.  The facility had not received an overlay in over 10 years, representing a time period when the size, weight, and frequency of commercial aircraft serving Santa Barbara continued to grow. An investigation during the design phase revealed a de-lamination zone between two layers of asphalt pavement within the structural section. The rehabilitation plan was expanded to remove the delamination through a grind and remove effort, followed by a two-lift overlay. Once complete, the runway received new markings and a grooved surface. Project challenges focused on performing all runway rehabilitation work between 11:00 pm & 5:00 am, with full use of the Runway every day.  

The 300,000 square-foot terminal apron had very little maintenance since a slurry seal in 1998. The ever- increasing size of aircraft, drawn to the airport since the 2011 runway extension, created integrity issues with the apron. A multi-year, multi-grant terminal apron reconstruction effort was initiated in 2015, replacing the former asphalt section with a portland cement concrete structure. The first portion was bid as a base bid, with multiple additive alternates. The second project picked up where the first one left off. Two public bids were successfully secured and constructed by the same contractor.

Having recently completed the rehabilitation of the airport's two main taxiways, Taxiways A & F, the airfield improvement effort shifted focus to the remaining taxiways. Tartaglia Engineering employed multiple rehabilitation strategies based on the specific condition of individual taxiway segments. Rehabilitation work ranged from slurry seal to grind and overlay to complete reconstruction. The work addressed several long-standing hazard (FOD generating) areas. Challenges during the effort focused on preserving runway access to the air-attack base, and providing timely updates to the construction schedule to numerous, temporarily displaced, hangar tenants.