Brian Barnes, manager of Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield, left, checks one of the runway lights along the new $15.6 million 9,000-foot runway with Westfield Mayor Daniel Knapik, center, and City Advancement Officer Jeffrey Daley during a tour Tuesday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Barnes Regional Airport Manager Brian Barnes gave an update on the facility’s improvements Tuesday, as well as a hint at a prospective date for reopening.
Improvements to the main runway of the airport, which are costing $15.6 million, were in dire need due to the age of the facilty’s airstrip.
“Typically, a runway’s lifespan is 20 years, and these have been in place for about 28 years.” said Barnes in August. “The new construction will benefit general aviation and the National Guard for another 25 years.”
“The runway was deteriorating,” said Col. James Keefe during that same August media day. “It wasn’t able to keep up with the mission of the F-15’s. After-burn blasts were tearing up some of the asphalt.”
Two months ago, Barnes likened the projects to an “extreme makeover” and Tuesday was their first opportunity to showcase the progress, including an expanded main runway.
“This runway is longer than 70 percent of the runways in the United States,” Barnes said, before adding that the new runway blacktop is proprietary to the project’s engineers. “This runway enables all the other stuff (at the airport).”
“There is no other runway in the United States with this blacktop,” he added, a specially designed composition which can handle the afterburners of the Air National Guard’s F-15 fighter jets, as well as other aircraft.
“This (project) is on time, it’s on budget, we couldn’t ask for a better local contractor in Lane Construction,” said Daley. “With Brian’s management and leadership, it’s staying on task and budget, and we look forward to it being reopened.”
During the opening days of construction two months ago, the hope was to have a usable runway by “perhaps the first, maybe the second week of November”, with the possibility of having to wait till after Thanksgiving.
Barnes is now confident the renovations will be completed in early December.
“December 3,” he said with a smile, with Daley adding that it will be at that time when the F-15’s and all other aircraft will be able to begin using the runway again.
The project, which has a final price-tag of around $15.6 million, with the Federal Aviation Administration footing $8.7 million in eligible funding and the Military Construction Cooperative Agreement chipping in around $3.8 million, along with an additional almost $843,000 in ineligible funding.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is also contributing to the project, spending $728,516 in eligible funds.
So the city’s taxpayers are only on the hook for $242,838, about 1.79 percent of the total cost, a point of pride for city officials who view the project as another step forward for Westfield.
“The FAA sees a 9,000 foot runway, and they say ‘we’ll give you enough money to finish 6,400 feet of it,” Barnes said appreciatively. “The military has stepped up to it. We’re in a relationship that has been forged in this town with the National Guard bureau over the past years and now we work together to get money from here, from there, from this legislative team. We come to the table with common interests and are able to get funding.”
“The city, the state, the Governor’s office, the DOT, the FAA, the Guard locally in Mass., we’ve all come together,” Daley said. “This is a shot in the arm (for Westfield). this is huge.”
