Orly. The rebuilding of track 3 represents a gigantic construction site of 120 million euros

Runway 3 at Orly, the Paris South Airport managed by Aéroports de Paris (ADP), was built in 1947 and extended in 1959 to a length of 3,320 meters. Part of the road must be rebuilt. The work began on July 28 and will last until December 2.

The ADP group has begun rebuilding runway 3 of the Orly airport more than seventy years old, a gigantic construction site that spans four months until December 2 for a total investment of 120 million euros.

"This is a historic site, exceptional. We do not rebuild a track every day, " said Tuesday the director of Paris-Orly, Régis Lacote, during a site visit open to journalists.

Runway 3 at Orly, the Paris South Airport managed by Aéroports de Paris (ADP), was built in 1947 and extended in 1959 to a length of 3,320 meters. Since then, she has been the subject of several major maintenance operations. But "today we arrived at a phase where we have to rebuild part of the roadway," which presented structural disorders, explained Régis Lacote.

4,600 canceled flights, 3,000 reprogrammed

The western two-thirds of the runway must be completely deconstructed and rebuilt, and the eastern third is covered with asphalt. The closure of runway 3 for the duration of the work that commenced on July 28 and that of runway 2 until early September - limiting operations on the platform during the first single-track phase - required adjustments to program from the airlines.

A total of 4,600 flights out of a total of 55,000 to 60,000 were canceled, 3,000 rescheduled and a limited number reported on the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, according to ADP.

These changes particularly affect the busiest periods of activity from September to mid-October, with a much higher density of business flights than in August.

Remains of sheds for airships dating from 1923

During the entire duration of the work, the work will cause unusual overflights for the populations of the north-east of Val de Marne and Seine-et-Marne but also from September 2nd for those of the communes of the valley of Orge south of the airport, said Régis Lacote.

To optimize the supply of materials to the shipyard and reduce the impact of truck traffic, some 300,000 tonnes of rubble from the demolition of 185,000 m2 of concrete slabs are crushed on site and reused for two-thirds. in the structure of the new track and for a third to be recycled on construction sites in the south of Ile-de-France.

The shipyard had a few surprises with the discovery of particularly robust reinforcement, remnants of hangars for airships dating from 1923, and some shells of the German army found in the shoulders of the track.

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