The New Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok Island (HKIA) is said to be one of the largest public works projects in history. Constructing HKIA was such a massive project because the island/airport had to be built literally from the ground up.

Even though every effort was made to minimize settlement, HKIA engineers knew that through the course of time and use, settlement would occur. The objective was to minimize differential settlement and to track the pavement’s profile as the pavement settled...