Runway project ahead of schedule at airport
By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
May 14, 2009
A construction project to repave the Jackson Hole Airport runway is four days ahead of schedule, despite several days of rain since work began May 4.
The progress to date likely will not affect the length of time the airport will close to finish the project. The airport is scheduled to be closed May 25-31.
Airport Director Ray Bishop said crews with HK Contractors Inc. have worked at night to grind off strips of pavement down the length of the runway, sweep the debris, heat the ground surface and repave the strip before flights begin coming in the next morning.
“We’re down to where we have two lengths of the runway left,” he said. “Normally, we do one strip a day.”
Once the base layer is finished, the crews will “sit and wait until the 25th until we do the finish coat on top,” Bishop said.
Work on the final layer of the “porous friction runway surface,” will close the airport starting at 6 p.m. May 25 and ending May 31. The closure could last longer if weather delays the construction process. Jackson Hole Airport will subsidize shuttle service to and from Idaho Falls, Idaho, for the roughly 600 passengers affected by the closure.
The life expectancy for a porous friction runway surface is between eight and 12 years. The current surface is about nine years old. While the previous runway surface lasted about 14 years, Bishop said recent freeze-thaw cycles, especially this year, may have accelerated the “shedding” of surface material. Also, some of the larger aircraft have engines that produce enough thrust to dislodge the gravel.
Maintenance crews must vacuum the runway about three times a day to remove the dislodged bits of gravel because they could get sucked into aircraft engines. While gravel isn’t as large a threat as a flock of birds getting sucked into an engine, officials say it does present a small safety risk. Further, the gravel could damage engine parts, and sweeping the gravel from the runway is expensive.
