From the Flight Deck

Oh, so close! The finish date for the ramp reconstruction project at Marshfield Airport is extending by just a few days. Back in May, Friday, October 24, was estimated to be the final day. Now it appears that Wednesday, October 29, will see things wrap up. But wrap up like a gorgeous gift.

And, oh, what a gift! The difference between before and after is truly the difference between night and day. The ramp is beautiful – if a stretch of black asphalt can be considered such. The old ramp saw several years, decades, of wear. Smothered in cracks and seals, it was a sore sight. And now it’s a sight for sore eyes.

Ninety-nine percent of the work was indeed completed by October 24. Digging, hauling, mixing, filling, spreading, compacting, paving, coating. All done exemplarily. Drainage, electricity, environmental plantings, too. Some final sealcoating, hydroseeding, and markings left to do, and that’s it. Though with rain in the forecast, some of it looked a little iffy as the weekend loomed.

The main ramp at Marshfield Airport is an expanse of new black asphalt.

Begun in early June, phase 2 of the Marshfield Municipal Airport safety improvement project is concluding in late October. And what a difference nearly five months have made. But the entire safety improvement project actually covered a far more vast expanse of time. Planning began in 2002. In 2014, Phase 1 took shape when the new runway extended to 3,900 feet in length by 100 feet wide, a significant safety improvement to its 3,000 by 75-foot predecessor, reports Shoreline Aviation, the airport’s fixed base operator.

Phase 2 was designed by Airport Solutions Group, and executed by contractor Lawrence Lynch Corp.

In Phase 2, the ramp – or the open paved area where aircraft park, load, fuel, tie down, and traverse to access the runway area – was removed and replaced. This project is part of the Land Use with Higher Potential Pollutant Loads (LUHPPL) initiative, a conditional order to the runway extension. It is a complete reconstruction and improvement of the main ramp to its borders with Taxiway Alpha, which parallels the runway, and it is essential to ensure continued operational safety and environmental compliance, bringing the airport to current FAA standards.

The Gate 1 access road to the east ramp was also redone, along with that ramp.

A meeting of the minds goes on as does seal coating.

“LUHPPL” means area where the land use has the potential to generate highly contaminated runoff, with concentrations of pollutants in excess of those typically found in stormwater, according to LawInsider.com.

This safety improvement project was initiated in 2002 and went through a long series of public hearings and permitting steps with the Airport Commission, the Marshfield Conservation Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, Mass Audubon, Coastal Zone Management, MassDOT Aeronautics Division, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the FAA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and others.

Enhancing airport safety is an ongoing high priority for the Marshfield Airport Commission and Shoreline Aviation, which manages the airport for the town. Shoreline provides aviation services including fueling, overnight aircraft parking, aircraft maintenance, aircraft sales and acquisition, aircraft management, and charter flights since 1981. Shoreline has been under current ownership and management for 37 years.

Seal coating at Marshfield Airport was finished on October 24.