Oct. 07--Runway modifications at Danville Regional Airport are drawing closer to completion.
After years of controversy about the Federal Aviation Authority's insistence that runways and taxiways be narrowed to fit current design requirements for an airport of this size, work began in March -- with the FAA picking up the tab of the $9.5 million in renovations it required.
The main runway, formerly 150 feet wide, is being narrowed to 100 feet and issues with drainage and soil erosion are being fixed; taxiways are being narrowed from 50 feet to 35 feet.
Marc Adelman, the city's transportation director, said one of the biggest concerns was narrowing the taxiways, which pilots told him would prevent them from flying into Danville at night because the turns on and off them would be too difficult in the dark.
While the FAA is paying for most of the modifications, the taxiway issue was solved when the state stepped in with funding to flare the turn ends of the taxiways back out to 50 feet to create an airport version of "turn lanes," giving pilots a better turning radius, Adelman said.
Adelman said the rainy spring the region had delayed the project on the north end of the runway.
" We thought the north end would be done by Labor Day," Adelman said. "Now we're looking at the first week in November due to rainfall."
If the weather holds, the second phase of the project -- the south end of the main runway-- will be completed by the end of December, Adelman said.
" We need a very dry November to accomplish this," Adelman said. "If not, we'll shut it down for the winter and the south end will be done in the spring."
The airport has been able to operate through most of the construction product by using secondary runways, one of which is also getting some modifications.
Paved runways were also shortened -- the main one from 6,500 feet to 5,900 feet -- but that doesn't really affect the number of feet available to pilots for take-offs and landings because there is footage at each end of the runway that is considered safety zones -- flat overrun areas for emergencies, but not to be used for regular take-offs and landings.
Pavement isn't required for those areas, Adelman said -- just flat ground, which reduces the pavement footage that needs to be maintained. The secondary runway is also having grading done at each end to bring its safety zone up to standards.
Taxiways have been moved or modified to meet FAA design standards and the localizer -- a navigational instrument that used to be on a platform near South Boston Road -- has been moved.
One major issue that caused all of the modifications was a "hump" midway down the main runway that affected line-of-sight for too long a distance, according to the FAA.
Removing the hump not only improves pilots' line of sight. The localizer is now off the platform and further away from South Boston Road because it, too, can see better now -- and since its job is to let pilots know where the centerline of the runway is, sightlines are critical.
A tour of the construction project with Bruce Newcomb, the transportation department's buildings and grounds superintendent, and Adelman showed mountains of dirt have been moved around and untold tons of rock have been laid as a base for the runways.
Much of the dirt had to be removed in long stretches of the existing main runway, since it was built to World War II standards for fill rather than modern standards, Newcomb said.
" It looks like it was all good old Virginia clay, which holds moisture," Newcomb said.
The new dirt will be tamped down and go through "rolling tests" -- a full dump trunk drives over the tamped-down dirt, followed by an engineer and inspector who monitor if and how much the dirt moves -- before paving beings, hopefully this week.
" It all depends on the weather," Newcomb said.
Thibodeau reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
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