Major runway project starts at Eastern Iowa Airport this summer

Travelers using The Eastern Iowa Airport this summer will see a lot of construction.

Excavators, pavers, haulers, electricians and other subcontractors will be tearing out and rebuilding the airport's main runway. The $21.8 million final phase of the $46.6 million project will include rebuilding the intersection of the airport's main and secondary runways.

Air travelers should not encounter any disruption because of the runway work, though.

“There should not be a hindrance for the traveling public from this construction,” said Sara Mau, director of operations at the airport. “No construction equipment will be crossing an active runway.”

The runway reconstruction, the largest single-year project in terms of dollar amount in the airport's history, will create about 200 jobs, Mau said. It will be financed with federal grants and local matching funds.

“The contractor is Hawkins Construction Co. of Omaha, Neb., which handled a similar runway rebuilding project in recent years at Epley Field in Omaha,” Mau said. “The majority of the subcontractors are local contractors in the Corridor. Hawkins Construction really made it a point that there will be local work completed on this project.”

Don Swanson, acting airport director, said the Federal Aviation Administration committed its $40 million, or 85.8 percent, portion of the overall financing five years ago. The airport will pay its $6.6 million, or 14.2 percent, share.

The Eastern Iowa Airport, while owned by the city of Cedar Rapids, does not receive city or county property tax dollars. It derives its federal and local funding from fees paid by the airlines, air travelers, rental car fees, concession revenue and passenger facilities charges.

Mau said the runway project has strict start and stop dates, because the FAA publishes those dates and related information for pilots.

“The project will start at 5 a.m. on June 3 and take 112 calendar days - period, end of story,” Mau said. “The contractor must meet that deadline, even if it means working 24-hour days under lights at night.”

The first phase of the runway project was completed in fiscal 2006 when the east end of the main runway was rebuilt at a cost of $4.7 million. Taxiway A, which is parallel to the main runway, was extended to 7,700 feet in fiscal 2007 and fiscal 2008 at a cost of $14.4 million.

Mau said the extension of Taxiway A will allow it to become a temporary runway, a major factor in the overall reconstruction project.

“The alternative was complete shutdown of the airport to reconstruct the intersection of the two runways,” she said. “We would have lost airline service for that period. That was not an option.”

The temporary runway will be used by all the airlines, private aircraft and FedEx. UPS has minimum runway width requirements that will require it to either use smaller planes or truck freight to Des Moines between July 5 and 30.

“We worked with UPS to determine when traffic is typically slow for them,” Mau said. “We also have worked every step of the way with the airlines to make sure everyone is onboard with the overall plan.”

Mau said complete reconstruction of the main runway is sorely needed, noting initial sections were built in 1943 and 1945.

“When you dig down, you find that the initial concrete is in pieces due to all the stress,” she said. “We're pulling it all down to the dirt and rebuilding it from scratch.”

Mau said the existing concrete is ground into chunks, any metal is removed, and the concrete is reused as base material. That reduces the overall project cost and keeps the concrete out of the landfill.

She said the project also will improve pilot visibility at the west end of the main runway.

“When pilots are preparing to take off, they can't see the other end of the runway because of a crown that has formed,” she said. “We will be raising that section of the runway about 3 feet.”

During construction, a 12-foot lighted “X” will be erected at each end of the main runway, and all markings will be covered to assure that pilots will not attempt to land. The secondary runway will get the same treatment from July 5 to 30 when it cannot be used.

Timeline

• May 30 to June 3: Convert Taxiway A to Runway 8/26
• 5 a.m. June 3: Runway 9/27 closes, Runway 8/26 opens
• July 5 to July 30: Runway 13/31 closed for reconstruction of intersection with Runway 9/27; Runway 8/26 used by all flights
• July 31: Runway 13/31 reopens
• 5 a.m. Sept. 23: Runway 9/27 reopens
• Sept. 23 to Sept. 27: Convert Runway 8/26 to Taxiway A
• Sept. 27 to Oct. 11: Remove old Taxiway A-3 and Taxiway A-4