Will Provide For Improved Safety Areas On Main Runway

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport in Kotzebue, Alaska (OTZ), has received a $15.5 million federal grant to expand runway safety areas (RSAs). The grant, announced late last week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood and Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, will help improve RSAs at both ends of Runway 9/27, which is the longer of the airport’s two runways. RSAs protect passengers and crew if an aircraft overruns, undershoots, or veers off the side of the runway.

“This project is part of our ongoing investment in this country’s infrastructure,” said Secretary LaHood. “It will make travel safer for everyone who uses Ralph Wien Memorial Airport.”

Ralph Wien Memorial Airport serves several passenger and cargo airlines and is the primary connection to other parts of Alaska and the United States for a number of remote communities.“Enhancing runway safety areas is a national priority for the FAA,” said Huerea. “We are pleased to provide critical infrastructure support to enhance safety in the Alaska region.”

The RSA work at Ralph Wien is complex because Runway 9/27 is surrounded by water. The project will shift the 5,900-foot runway 200 feet to the east, move a lagoon channel, remove a portion of a hill, and create a new sea wall to protect the west end of the runway. More than 170,000 cubic yards of clean fill will be delivered by barge to Kotzebue for use in this project.

Work is expected to begin in October and be completed in late 2014.

(Image courtesy FAA)

FMI: www.faa.gov