Airport to be repaved after planes sank in asphalt

Sounds more like someone at the city government level selected the lowest bid contractor. You get what you pay for.

So the Challenger and Citation owners sued the contractor........yes? You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Cost me $2000 just last month to ripe out a replace a bad spot in my asphalt driveway, then recoat the entire top. Size of driveway was 20' by 50'n

Retired Air Force civil engineer here. I've got an awful lot of pavement experience on aircraft operating surfaces and still do pavement assessment all over the US. What most don't realize is that the single most important factor in aircraft pavement design isn't the overall weight of the aircraft, but rather the tire pressure. A Cessna Citation has a nose tire pressure of 120 psi. That is very hard on asphalt and is probably something the pavement designer didn't take into account when selecting the pavement mix.

The Herald article links to another by the Elkhart Truth linked here:
https://www.elkharttruth.com/hometown/elkhart/new-airport-ramp-needs-repair/article_c9c9dd62-06f1-51dc-8428-b507f6bb5092.html
More details and lots of local comments that are worth a cursory read

There is more to it than "just" asphalt. Asphalt is only the thin black top, a sealer. What about a well-prepared foundation capable of carrying the weight.

Dear Elkhart
No you cannot cheap out and use road grade hot mix to pave a parking ramp for aircraft.

At least the media didn't refer to "the tarmac."

Either what was specified in the original contract was incorrect or the QA for the contract was not followed. Sounds like for what was paid originally ~$50k was what you might pay for a small parking lot at a convenience store. Heads should roll.

Sounds like the contractor skimmed off the top thinking he could get by using a cheaper type of asphalt

Same. Billings, MT. KBIL DC-9-30 (C9B). Navy.
Runways and taxiways fine but the FBO parking for RON aircraft was weak. FBO had us park on 4x8 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood. Worked fine but taxiing out we blew those plywood sheets across the FBO parking lot.

About 20 years ago, they replaced the two parallel runways at SJC (San Jose, CA). They are 11,000 feet long and it was said that there is enough concrete in the runways to form a city sidewalk from San Jose to San Diego. It looked like the concrete and rebar was about 4 feet thick.

Look at the cost differential between what they paid and what they are now paying

It sounds like this project was not engineered properly, or not at all. Most of the strength of a ramp or runway is not the asphalt, but the sub-grade and base material; many heavy aircraft do not need asphalt, like C-130's, C-17's and some civilian aircraft. Also, road grade asphalt will work, just not as long or as well over a period of decades. It takes a lot of testing (soil composition prior to the job, base material meeting engineer's specifications during onsite delivery, compaction densities in limits during construction, etc.) to determine what's needed and then to insure that the job is constructed properly. In other words, good engineering before the job and a good inspector during the job.

OOOF

Had this happen with our GII at Maclaren Field in Las Vegas. (After fueling to near max)
Had to have the FBO locate some 48x48 inch x 1.00 inch thick steel plates as we were going to be there for three days...

In June of 1974 my orders were "mis-filed" and I ended up at Great Lakes Naval Training Center Transient Personnel Unit. At morning muster our collective feet would sink into the asphalt while the illiterate Postal Petty Officer tried to read our names and nobody saw anything wrong with that. We were at parade rest which possibly put additional stress on the asphalt.

We used to call them Sabreliner tracks. The early 40s and 60s were single main tire. You could see where they parked even on normal ramps in summer!

Children, all airport paving projects are awarded to organized crime fronts.Elkhart is pretty damn close to Chicago. Next lesson. All Airport managers are on the take. Nothing new. Welcome to real aviation.