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Improvements continue at airport

Jordan Beck | Daily Press Delta County Airport Manager T.J. Reid shows updated signage for what has now been designated as “Runway 01/19” Friday. A project focusing on the runway will be officially completed this week.

ESCANABA — Changes large and small are coming to Delta County Airport, Airport Manager T.J. Reid said.

One of the most significant projects completed at the airport recently has focused on what was previously known as “Runway 18/36” and what has now been designated as “Runway 01/19.” The project will be officially completed this week.

According to Reid, the runway’s designation was changed as part of this project in order to reflect the shifting location of the magnetic north pole over the years. Because of these shifts, the runway is no longer technically aligned with magnetic north.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime change that’s occurring right now,” he said.

This change took a considerable amount of work to implement, including updates to airport signage and charts.

“It’s not just slapping some paint on a runway,” Reid said.

Along with the redesignation, this project allowed for the runway and most of Taxiway A to be repaved.

“It just required us to mill down about four to six inches (and) then replace that asphalt with new asphalt,” Reid said.

New lighting was also installed as part of the project.

“We replaced our runway lights with LED lights,” Reid said.

While some change orders have been submitted, Reid said the overall cost of this project was about $2.6 million. He said this was funded through the Airport Improvement Program fund — a trust fund which covers 95 percent of the Delta County Airport’s eligible projects.

The money in this fund comes from fees assessed on passenger airline tickets, Reid said.

“The intent is (it’s) only for aviation projects,” he said.

Reid said the Delta County Airport is currently looking to ask for supplemental funding from the Federal Aviation Administration for another runway project.

“We’re doing the same project on Runway 9/27 in 2020,” he said.

With its current funding sources, the airport would be able to update Runway 9/27 in 2020 and the taxiway running parallel to this runway in 2021. However, Reid said updating both at the same time would make more sense logistically, and supplemental funding could make doing this a possibility.

Having supplemental funding for the project could also allow the Delta County Airport to build a new lighting vault in its airfield. Reid said the airport’s current lighting vault is located in their terminal, which is not in line with current standards of airport design.

“You don’t want something like that in this building,” he said.

The City of Escanaba’s installation of solar panels for a solar energy farm at the Delta County Airport was recently completed, as well. Reid said he believes this facility will be ready to operate in the near future.

“It should be starting up in late July, early August,” he said.

In addition to these large-scale initiatives, Reid said the airport will continue to work on smaller projects. These will include the cutting of trees, which he said is necessary to deter wild animals (primarily birds) from establishing their homes at the airport.

“We have an awful lot of wildlife,” he said.

Work is also continuing towards the implementation of a dog park at the airport. Reid said the airport’s staff is excited for this addition.

“We’re just working on how we’re (going to) make it work,” he said. He went on to say that he hopes the park will be able to serve as a Service Animal Relief Area, which the airport is required to add.

Other airport projects will include landscaping work and work on improving the airport’s entryway.

The Delta County Airport has formed a quality improvement committee to develop ideas for improving the experiences of people using the airport, Reid said. They will also form a steering committee for aviation education.

“Right now, nationwide … there’s a huge demand for aviation careers,” he said.

One thing that has not changed at the airport is its popularity among people in the area.

“Our enplanements are holding strong,” Reid said. This June’s enplanement numbers were higher than those seen for this month in the past five years for the airport, and their enplanement numbers for 2018 are also projected to exceed those seen over the past five years.

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