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By: Robert Galbreath, [email protected] - Updated: 1 month ago
PINEDALE – A ribbon of fresh, jet black asphalt runs at a perfect angle to the horizon of Ralph Wenz Field, paralleling the Wind River Range. The roughly 1.5-mile runway allows aircrafts loaded with fuel and passengers to take off on warm summer days – a challenge at 7,058 feet, said Grover Laseke, Pinedale Airport manager.
Advanced 3-D GPS technology created a perfectly level surface, and hurtling along the newly paved runway is perhaps one of the smoothest rides in Sublette County.
The runway rehabilitation project, substantially completed in September 2021, is one of several projects launched by the Town of Pinedale to upgrade and expand services at Ralph Wenz Field before the Jackson Hole Airport closes between April 11-June 28.
Laseke said it was difficult to predict how the closure will impact air traffic at the Pinedale Airport at this time. Due to the improvements carried out by the town and its contractors through the spring, summer and fall of 2021, Ralph Wenz Field is “prepared to provide whatever services we can” to aircraft rerouted from Jackson, Laseke said.
The airport lacks the facilities for commercial passenger flights but can accommodate a wide range of private and chartered planes and jets.
In addition to preparing the Pinedale Airport to welcome aircraft from Jackson, the flurry of construction activity last summer boosted the facility’s ability to provide crucial emergency services to the community, Laseke added.
Federal, state and local agencies use Ralph Wenz Field as a center for fighting wildland fires from the air. During the 2018 Roosevelt Fire, the airport staged tactical aircraft, including two 747-jet air tankers capable of dropping more than 8,000 gallons of fire retardant.
The Pinedale Airport is also a base for fixed-wing medical evacuations in Sublette County, said Laseke.
The Pinedale Airport briefly closed for the runway mill and overlay rehabilitation project in early August and September. The process involved removing the top layer of asphalt on the runway and grinding the old asphalt into tailing with a milling machine, said Abram Pearce, the town’s director of public works.
Workers with HK Contractors then applied a layer of new asphalt. Surveyors with T-O Engineers uploaded the runway design parameters into a 3-D GPS system installed on milling equipment to ensure the runway was flawlessly level.
Asphalt tailings from the old runway were recycled into surface material for a network of roads around the perimeter of the airport and a route to the new fuel farm. The roads allow airport staff to access remote sites on the property and carry out maintenance, said Laseke.
The tailings are “not quite” the same quality as “pure asphalt,” said Pearce, yet the surface can handle a “significant load,” like fuel trucks.
The final touches to the project will be completed later this summer, including work on grooving the asphalt. Grooves in the pavement “improve water drainage ability,” said Pearce. A grooved surface also enhances traction for planes landing and taking off, Laseke added.
The project was funded entirely from federal stimulus money distributed through the CARES Act, said Pearce.
Ralph Wenz Field offers storage facilities for aircraft. HK Contractors constructed a new, 9-acre apron and expanded the airport’s taxiway based on a design by T-O Engineers, Pearce said.
The new apron provides room for up to six jet planes to park, Laseke explained, and it contains large concrete pads for jets to set their wheels on to prevent damage to the new asphalt on hot days.
The taxiways were expanded to create room for future hangars, Laseke said.
The apron project was funded by a grant package offered by the Federal Aviation Administration, Pearce said, with the federal government covering 90 percent of construction and design costs. An additional 6-percent match from the state left the town liable for only 4 percent of the project fees.
The completion before winter of the apron and taxiway expansion plus the runway rehabilitation before winter was a “good test” for the airport’s snow removal system before the Jackson closure, Laseke said.
The Town of Pinedale partnered with the Wyoming Department of Transportation - Aeronautics Division to apply a coat of sealing material to existing aprons and taxiways. The state paid for 90 percent of the project with the town matching 10 percent, said Pearce. WYDOT offers grants to multiple airports for maintenance projects on a four-year cycle, he added.
Straight Stripe Painting, Inc., performed the seal-coat work. Its employees filled cracks in the pavement to prevent water seeping underneath the surface and damaging the asphalt, said Laseke.
In a bid to increase fuel-storage capacity for jets at the airport, the town embarked on a project with the state to build a new fuel farm. The goal is to create space to store 20,000 gallons of jet fuel in permanent tanks, said Pearce.
Avail Valley Construction installed the fuel farm’s foundation and concrete bollards – barriers to keep out unauthorized vehicles – last summer, Pearce said. Electrical and computer lines are also in place, Laseke added.
The town is in the process of looking into alternatives to purchase fuel storage tanks, said Pearce. In the meantime, fuel is available from tanker trucks supplied by Emblem Aviation, the fixed-base operator at Ralph Wenz Field, he added.
In addition to the four projects outlined above, Emblem employees were busy painting and sprucing up the fixed-base headquarters at the airport on Wednesday, March 30, in preparation for the upcoming closure in Jackson.
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