4 Major Projects in the Pipeline to Augment Civil, Vance AFB Functionality

An Oklahoma airport will see a bevy of improvements to benefit both civilian and military aviators, with $10 million in construction coming to the Enid Woodring Regional Airport.

Enid, and the nearby Vance Air Force Base will benefit from the renovation of the weathered crosswind runway. Airport Director Keston Cook outlined the changes:

"That will be taking our asphalt crosswind runway ... currently 13-31, and tearing it fully out and replacing it with concrete," Cook said. "It will still be 3,150 feet; it will be slightly narrowed from 108 feet to 75 feet."

Coincidental with the renovation will be the addition of a 120x120' hangar for overnighting aircraft, placed next to a similarly sized unit. The south ramp in its entirety will also be revamped, hangars and all. Currently, it's the worst for wear in the complex, though civil traffic may not notice since it's home to most of the military aircraft.

"It's probably the worst condition of all of our ramps right now," Cook said. "And so we'll be going down there and tearing out all of that concrete, the hangars that are on that ramp as well. So it will be a full concrete replacement of that ramp."

The new hangars will be the first to grace the premises in 50+ years, able to hold twice the aircraft the outgoing ones did. The runway should be finished by fall, with the assorted hangar construction and ramp renovation extending through Summer 2024.

"It will absolutely be a benefit for everyone. The joint-use hangar, that's a transient hangar, it's used both by military and civilians," Cook said. "So we'll be able to put transients in there, military aircraft in there. The crosswind runway, not a huge use for Vance, only in an emergency. But previously in the summer, we had to physically take a mower out there and mow that runway because of the amount of grass intrusion, and replacing that runway with concrete, it's a much higher quality and will last a lot longer. With the FAA moving away from crosswind runways, it's probably the last opportunity we'll ever have to rebuild that with federal funding, unless they change their guidelines or their priorities."

While the upgrades will certainly provide some use to locals, Vance staff will undoubtedly enjoy the added capacity. Until now, the base had only been able to rely on Enid Regional for smaller, lighter aircraft.

"With that south ramp, previously with the condition that it is in, we really only limited it to like the T-1s," Cook said. "We wouldn't try to park T-6s down there or T-38s. So this will open up that ramp for full access to them all the time. This is a real exciting time. It's a lot of projects coming together all at one time. Roughly about $10 million worth of improvements all in one calendar year."

FMI: www.enid.org