(Above) Hazard Construction Company repaves a taxiway at San Diego's Lindburgh Field using a Blaw-Knox PS3200.

Roscoe "Pappy" Hazard founded R.E. Hazard Contracting Company in 1926. In April of 1927 he rented a crane to Ryan Aeronautical Company to load and unload the wing of the Spirit of St. Louis from a boxcar so that it could be moved from one part of their plant to another. The next day the Spirit of St. Louis took it's first test flight. He couldn't have envisioned a company seventy-five years later that would take on a daunting and challenging project like repaving the taxiways of San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field. It would be another year before the famed pilot would make his flight across the Atlantic and become a household name. Seven decades later Hazard Construction is taking on the task of laying asphalt over the airport's ovals and resurfacing the taxiways.

The current Hazard Construction Company was established in 1998 when "Pappy's" son, Bruce sold half his interests in the corporation. When Bruce Hazard died in 2001 the present management team purchased the remaining interests from the Hazard Estate. Five employees who worked for Bruce Hazard now own the company. As Tom Shaddox, Vice President of Field Operations, puts in succinctly, "It was a way of passing the company along." Seventy-five years later Hazard Construction Company remains committed to the same business values, quite an anomaly in this day of conglomerate mergers and company buyouts.

(Above left) One of Hazard's booster trucks dumping 23 tons of asphalt into the paver. (Above right) Hazard uses support equipment like this Bomag pneumatic tired roller on the Lindburgh Field Project.

The company's management team is comprised of Dave Randal-President, Bill Rogers-Executive Vice President, Tom Shaddox-Vice President of Field Operations, Tom Masterson-Treasurer/Secretary, Charlie White-Assistant Vice President of Field Operations, Steve Miller-Assistant Vice President of Field Operations, and Mark Finrow, Assistant Vice President of Estimating. Hazard Construction Company employs a staff of approximately two hundred, which breaks down to an office staff of thirty and a field staff of approximately one hundred and forty five employees. The "new" Hazard Construction Company has obviously succeeded in maintaining a family business atmosphere while being quite capable of taking on big jobs that one might associate with a large impersonal firm.

One of those big jobs is the current overhauling and improvements being made on San Diego's International Airport at Lindbergh Field. Hazard Construction Company was responsible for repaving Taxi Way B and paving all of the airport's ovals between the taxiways and the runway. Previous to these improvements the ovals had been comprised for years of nothing more than dirt with oil sprayed on it as a dust and erosion control. The dirt was excavated replaced with new drainage improvements, aggregate base and asphalt concrete.

(Above left) Al Jordan, Paving Foremen, Hazard Construction Company. (Above right) Steve Miller, Project Superintendent.

Hazard Construction Company was the General Contractor on the San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field job. The company began work fourteen months ago and completed the job a month ahead of schedule. The job entailed removing and replacing twenty-two thousand tons of P 401 that is more commonly referred to as FAA asphalt. Removal of the old asphalt was just the beginning. All of the ovals that were between the runways and taxi ways had to excavated, exporting twenty-five thousand cubic yards of material and replacing the excavated areas with aggregate base and fifty thousand tons of Caltrans Section Thirty-nine Asphalt. Also in the process drainage improvements were made within the ovals so they would drain more efficiently. This consisted of inlet replacement, concrete drainage swales and concrete aprons. In addition to these improvements the project called for electrical improvements such as taxi way lights, edge lights, directional lights control conduits as well as new striping.

Like any job of this size and magnitude, Hazard Construction Company worked hand in hand with sub-contractors. Hazard Construction Company did the excavation, laying the aggregate base and all of the asphalt work. T. C. Construction was a major sub-contractor doing the storm drainage work. Rural Electric handled the electrical work on the project. California Commercial Asphalt Corporation Supplied the Asphalt.

One of the most challenging aspects of the job was the incredibly short window of time in which the crews had to operate. Due to daily airport operations all work had to be done at night. No flights could enter or take off while the construction crews were in operation. This meant that the crews were only allowed to begin work at eleven-thirty p.m. and had to be completely cleaned up and gone by five a.m. Crews that normally have eight hours or more in which to deal with excavation, hauling and paving, not to mention the unseen logistical problems that are endemic with any large construction operation, now had barely five hours to get set up, do their work and clean up. This alone made it difficult to maintain any level of high production. Throw into this equation that Hazard Construction Company was now operating in a post 9/11 world and had to deal with airport security for a crew of over seventy and you have one tough project. Logistically this could have been a nightmare, but Vice President of Field Operations, Tom Shaddox and the project superintendent, Steve Miller took it in stride.

(Above) Bill Rogers Executive Vice President, and Tom Shaddox, Vice President of Field Operations, Hazard Construction Company.

"Steve was the guy who made it all happen," Shaddox was quick to point out. "The time constraints were certainly the most interesting and challenging aspect of the project. The coordination that went into this project was enormous. We would have trucks lined up like wagon trains at the gate at eleven thirty, roll in and start work." Mr. Miller received strong support from project manager, Don Gladden. Airport safety and operations officer, Ron Pierson was also very instrumental in the coordination of the project as was project engineer, Chris Fogerty. "Along with those people and the asphalt provider for the project, California Commercial Asphalt, all of them worked together to make this whole thing happen. It took a lot of effort and a lot of dedication to make this job happen," Shaddox said. This is a project that required not only excavation but also twenty-two thousand tons of P 401 and fifty thousand tons of Cal Trans Section Thirty-nine and the talents of three different paving foremen.

Equipment used on the job ranged from the standard truck to haul excavated materials, excavators and loaders as well as a Blaw-Knox PF3200 Paver that paved widths from ten feet to twenty-five feet. Because a big part of the project entailed laying asphalt for a taxiway the mix was extremely critical. Hazard had daily meetings during paving production with the San Diego Port District concerning how the mix reacted. The stability of the mix was tested constantly. Nothing was left to chance. In addition to the lab hired by the airport to run tests and the asphalt plant quality assurance test, Hazard Construction Company ran their own quality control testing to make certain that the mix met the stringent standards of the FAA. The material had to stay in spec or there would be severe deductive penalties if it did not meet necessary specifications. "We took the necessary precautions to make certain the materials didn't fall out of spec," said Shaddox. "The inspection was tighter and the quality assurance played a larger role than it would on some other project."

As the San Diego International Airport at Lindbergh Field job comes to a successful conclusion Hazard Construction Company currently has multiple projects going from work with CalTrans to jobs with private construction management. In the seventy plus years of successful operation, Hazard Construction Company continues to pave the way into the new millennium.