So what are they building at the airport this time?

    It is becoming an annual spring event like the return of the first robin or the first day above 70 degrees.  It is the low roar of construction equipment at the Northern Maine Regional Airport (PQI).     This year it is the reconstruction of the crosswind runway.  This is the runway that runs from behind Winnie’s Dairy Bar west to the Mapleton town line.  While it is the secondary runway, it becomes very important during periods of high winds out of the West or the East.  First the old pavement will be milled and used as a base material.  New crushed granite material will be placed on top to form a even stronger base.  On top of this new base, new pavement 4 inches thick will be laid down.  In addition to repaving, the runway lighting system will be replaced.  The safety areas which are the grassy areas adjacent to the paved runway will be brought up to current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards.   The grade and the size of the safety areas will be improved.  The width of the runway will actually be reduced from 150 feet to 100 feet.  This new width will be more than adequate for the aircraft that use PQI.  The reduced width will result in lower snow removal costs.  Lastly, a state of the art runway monitoring system will be added.  The Portland Jetport has used an older version of this system for a number of years.  These systems monitor the runway surface on a continuous basis.  If it detects ice or snow, it alerts the airfield maintenance foreman who could be anywhere at the airport or even at home.  The system also will detect if it is snowing, raining or freezing rain at the airport.  It will even tell us how much it has snowed in a given period.
    The main reason for the project is that the pavement is over 30 years old and has a substantial number of cracks.  In addition, the lights along the runway have reached there normal life span.  Older lighting systems required a great deal of maintenance to keep them operating.  So replacing the system should lower costs for the City of Presque Isle.  However, the old system will not simply be taken to the landfill.  It will actually be used by the Caribou Municipal airport as spare parts for their lighting system.  The safety areas are used by aircraft in an emergency situation in which the plane leaves the runway.  It is important that these areas be smooth and of the proper slope to prevent the collapse of the landing gear which can lead to the rupture of the fuel tanks.  In addition the size of these areas needs to be large enough to allow aircraft adequate space to come to a stop while still in the safety area.
    The runway monitoring system is important because the airport is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.  So there are times when no runway maintenance personnel are actually on duty at the airport.  It is during these times that a means of monitoring the runway remotely from home or a cell phone can increase safety and significantly reduce costs.
    Ninety-five percent of the funding for the roughly 6.5 million dollar project comes from the FAA Airport Improvement Program Trust Fund.  This program is funded by taxes collected from the sale of airline passenger tickets.  The state of Maine and the city of Presque Isle each contribute 2.5 percent of the funding needed for the project.
    Scott Wardwell is Airport Director for the city of Presque Isle. He can be reached at 764-2550 or online at flypqi@maine.rr.com.