Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Oct. 19 at the Alamo Landing Field, which will ultimately become the Alamo Airport.
In attendance were officials from County Commission, County Grants Department, Pahranagat Valley High School, Lincoln County Airport Authority, Regional Transportation Commission, Mercy Air Helicopters, Armstrong Inc, engineering architects, Mel Clark Construction and a small group of onlookers.
Commissioner Ed Higbee acknowledged the late LeMoine Davis and his longtime dream of having a regular landing field here.
Chris Knox, of Armstrong Engineering, said building an airport in Alamo would help bring further economic development to the valley and community.
“Airports, highways and rails, all help put communities on the map. Airports in particular, allow one to connect with quite literally, the rest of the world with less than one mile of runway.”
He noted having the airport here would also benefit “air medical operations, commercial and residential developers, wildlife management, air cargo, Department of Energy, Bureau of Land Management and other government staff.”
Knox said he hoped by the summer of 2012, he could “land his plane in Alamo and have a ribbon cutting.”
Clark Construction will begin work in early December and relocate Box Canyon Road, construct a Desert Tortoise exclusion fence around the perimeter and build a 60-foot-by-4,360-foot long runway.
Kelly Cox of Mel Clark Construction said about 15 to 20 workers will be living in the area temporarily during the construction phases.
“And, when we get to a new town, we try to buy everything locally: fuel, tires, groceries, etc., anything we can to help boost the economy.”
He said Mike Stewart, an Alamo native, would be the project superintendent.
Cox said he expected the earthwork portion of the runway project would begin in January, with pavement to be laid by April.
Future plans call for a lighting system to include runway in-lights, runway edge lights and precision approach path indicators, airport beacon, taxiways, an apron; and ultimately an automated weather observation system, storage buildings and hangars.
The project is being funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Nevada Trust Fund for Aviation and the Lincoln County Regional Transportation Committee. Federal regulations and rules will need to be observed.
Wendy Rudder, vice chairman of the Lincoln County Airport Authority, noted the airport would help bring economic development to the community, to help provide jobs for the young people so they don’t have to move away to find work and a place to start and raise their own families.
“If you don’t have the vision for the economic development, you’re community is not going to survive and not going to grow,” she said. “Our vision for this airport is that we are here to go forward.”
Rudder said she has received numerous calls from people over the years, who have expressed an interest of being able to land planes in Alamo. Now, with a paved facility, she said, people have expressed how glad they are they will finally be able to land here.
“I am very excited for my county,” she said. “This county needs economic development and this is one more little peg in the cog of getting that done. It’s important for the entire county.”
Tim Wilkerson of Mercy Air helicopters, which already has a new landing pad at the Alamo Ambulance barn, said having a paved landing field will allow for fixed-wing medical planes to come in, when necessary. “It will be great for the citizens in the Alamo area to have multiple options, if they have to be evacuated.”
No comments:
Post a Comment