Officials at Little Rock Air Force Base are developing a plan on how to handle air traffic when the base's only runway -- one of the busiest in the Air Force -- is under construction for two years starting this spring.
Arizona-based Sundt Construction Inc. beat out one other bidder earlier this month to win a $107.9 million contract to design and build the 12,000-foot runway, which will replace the original that was constructed in the late 1950s. It will be replaced in a phased approach -- while one 6,000-foot section of the runway is under construction, the other will be operational.
At any given time, 13 of the base's approximately 75 C-130 aircraft are taking off, in the air or landing, said Lt. Col. Daniel Brown, commander of the unit that routes air traffic at the Jacksonville base. According to AirNav.com, there are, on average, 168 takeoffs and landings on the runway each day.
While base officials will attempt to keep a high number of missions, the number of C-130s in operation at one time will have to reduce because of the lack of space, Brown said.
"We're working to simulate what it will be like in order to come up with a good, hard, fast number," Brown said Friday. "We'll all come together to communicate about what's the best way to keep everything safe but keep the output high."
Little Rock Air Force Base has the world's largest fleet of C-130s and the busiest runway under Air Mobility Command, which comprises Little Rock's 19th Airlift Wing and 19 other units. The high traffic is partly due to the base's 314th Airlift Wing, an active-duty unit that trains C-130 crews from the United States and 47 allied nations.
Part of the plan to reduce traffic includes routing more C-130s through commercial airports such as Little Rock's Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, Brown said. These airports already partner with the base, allowing aircrews in training to perform "touch-and-go's," briefly touching the runway and launching into flight again in order to practice takeoffs and landings.
Little Rock Air Force Base currently has agreements to use 18 commercial airports, nine of which are in Arkansas. The others are in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri.
"It will be a busy time with construction," Brown said. "People used to seeing C-130s flying in central Arkansas won't notice much different, but we will be using those local airfields a bit more."
Lt. Col. Michael Klapmeyer, commander of the base's 19th Civil Engineering Squadron, said construction will wait until after winter, with a planned start time of March 2015. The runway is expected to be complete in spring 2017.
The Little Rock District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the project, which is being funded through the Air Force's operations and maintenance budget.
Officials have said the replacement is necessary because nearby tributaries that flow into Cypress Branch or Jacks Bayou and a high water table have caused cracks and other damage in the concrete runway. Leon Iveson, a project manager with the Corps of Engineers, said last month that he has overseen minor repairs to the runway during the past few years, but this project is the first major overhaul.
According to a public notice of the project released in July, approximately an acre of wetlands will be permanently filled in order to keep water away from the runway. In addition, the runway will be elevated and existing culverts will be expanded.
"As you can imagine, if left unchecked, the water can erode the soil and weaken the runway's foundation," Klapmeyer said. "We need to make sure that we address that and keep the foundation strong so that the new runway is a viable surface for many decades to come."
The 19th Civil Engineering Squadron will serve as quality control throughout the two-year process, Klapmeyer said, adding, "We'll ensure that the right service is being provided by the contractor, that we're getting the most bang for our buck, the most value for our dollar."
Metro on 09/20/2014