Runway paving begins Aug. 3
Airport will be closed three days a week
A $7 million reconstruction of Glacier Park International Airport's main runway begins Aug. 3 and will cause the airport to be closed three days each week until Aug. 28.
"This is a paving project," Airport Director Cindi Martin said, noting that laying asphalt requires air temperatures of at least 45 degrees and dry conditions. "Eighteen to 20 years is the life cycle of pavement. The runway is 19 this summer. This runway is safe, but in order to keep it that way, this project needs to be done."
The existing asphalt is crumbling on the edges, she said. Crews will pave 8,000 feet of the 9,000-foot runway in four phases.
The first three phases of paving each will occur in three days, over three weeks, until the entire runway is completed. The last stage will be the final lift, smoothing the pavement from end to end.
One thousand feet of the runway was paved in 2005.
Passengers flying into the airport during the project will not notice a difference, though pilots will, Martin said.
In some sections, Knife River Corp. crews will tear up the old pavement down to dirt to rebuild the subgrade, which is often gravel, underneath the pavement. Since asphalt is porous, the subgrade below sheds water and strengthens the paving.
The project is 95 percent federally funded. Each airport is given entitlement dollars every year from the Federal Aviation Administration, but in order to complete the paving project, Glacier Park had to apply for $4.5 million in discretionary money.
Discretionary projects that exceed entitlement funds are sought after by each state in the region.
"Safety projects are the highest priority," Martin said. "We've been standing in line for about five years."
The runway project is now the highest priority project in the region, which includes Montana, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.
In anticipation of the project, the carriers who fly into Glacier Park International have made tickets unavailable on paving days for more than a year, Martin said.
"We've been working on the schedule for a year and a half," Martin said.
Martin said the airport worked with the airlines to determine the best course of action. The options were either to work with a shortened runway while keeping the airport open, or to close for a total of 12 days. The carriers elected for complete closure.
The highest number of passengers coming into or leaving Flathead Valley occur Fridays through Mondays. The lightest days are Tuesdays through Thursday, Martin said, which are the days the 24-hour construction will occur.
Jan Metzmaker, director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau, said that during the winter a number of groups, including Dollar Rental, Hertz, The Lodge at Whitefish Lake and Glacier Country, met to prepare for the closure.
"To get ahead of the curve, we met this winter, put out public information reports, put stuff on our Web sites. We tried to be proactive," she said.
Other than a few conference groups that have canceled their trips because of the rehabilitation project, Metzmaker said she hasn't heard of many other problems created by the closure.
"It's unfortunate, but it needs to be done," she said. "There's a small window of opportunity weather-wise. Of course we're worried because we get most of our visitation in July and August, so we're guardedly hoping for the best."
Additional details about the closure and flight booking links may be found at www.iflyglacier.com.
Reporter K.J. Hascall may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at kjhascall@dailyinterlake.com