By KELLY LOUISEIZE
Construction upgrades are continuing on the Dryden Regional Airport as Miller Northwest Ltd. enters into stage two and three of runway upgrades.
Workers are in the process of pulverizing 3,000 feet of Runway 11-29 on the west side of the field. Three thousand feet on the east side has already been complete with elevations and a temporary centre line markings in place.
“Technically all we have to do is paint it and we are ready to rock and roll,” George Friesen, airport manager says.
Portions of stage two and three will merge to keep air traffic flowing smoothly and costs down.
“We are trying avoid that five day shutdown and we think we can probably complete that,” Friesen says.
After consulting with Bearskin Airlines, Hicks & Lawrence Forest Management Charters Maintenance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Thunder Airlines Ltd. and Voyager Airlines it was revealed that at least half the main runway needed to stay open to allow the smaller aircraft to operate. In the meantime, larger aircraft owned by Bearskin and the Ministry could not land and had to make adjustments.
“There is no good time to do this, but you have to grit your teeth and dive right in,” Friesen says.
Upgrades to the taxiway up to the terminal and the main apron will be complete once the main runway is finished.
The whole project is scheduled to take eight and-a-half weeks.
Despite the ongoing construction, air freight is up by 100 percent over last year and overall activity has increased, Friesen says. It is a result of keeping close connections with airport tenants during the challenging process.
Last spring, Dryden airport received $3,459,000 from Transport Canada’s Airport Capital Assistance Program to rehabilitate some of the critical paved surfaces. The funds were enough to pay for 100 per cent of the project.
“This project marks the greatest investment from the federal government to the Dryden Regional Airport in its history,” Mayor Anne Krassilowsky says.
It will contribute to the economic well being of the region, she says, adding that the city is eager for further development to commence.
A strip connecting the ministry terminal and the main terminal will be complete after years of gravel and leveling upgrades. It is just a matter of using the extra material leftover from the air side project to make a new taxiway. The extra project’s “costs will be minimal,” Friesen says.
The Dryden airport has the longest runway and possesses the only Instrument Landing System in the region, which allows pilots to land with ceilings (bottom of a cloud deck above the ground) below 200 feet and visibility under a quarter mile.
