From the Flight Deck

Though the ramp reconstruction project at Marshfield Municipal Airport has roots deep in the past, part of the gameplan is parked solidly in the future.

Planning for the airport’s safety improvement project began back in 2002, and now, 23 years later and 11 years after the runway replacement phase took place, the project has been adjusted to continue GHG’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recall, in 2023 the airport became the site of the first electric aircraft charging station in the state. That was done as a determined effort to help heal the environment.

And now it’s happening again.

Electrical conduits are being encased in concrete. A lonely electric aircraft charging station awaits ramp reconstruction completion.

The idea of installing the charging system at Marshfield Airport began as a conversation between former Shoreline employee Geoff Douglass and electric aviation pioneer BETA Technologies. Douglass, the son of Shoreline Aviation President Keith Douglass, knew that aviation was responsible for 3% to 9% of greenhouse gas emissions, and that those numbers would only rise without investment in sustainable solutions. Mindful of the fragile environment surrounding the airport and the need to decarbonize the aviation industry, Geoff became involved in the national conversation about electric aircraft, which dramatically reduce and eliminate emissions.

Long story short, Shoreline, the company that has managed the airport for the town for 44 years, and BETA started talking and forged a partnership to install Massachusetts’ first electric aircraft charging station. They also installed Level 2 & 3 charging stations carside for the public to charge their EVs. And looking to the future, the ramp reconstruction project is including extension of electrical conduits across the ramp for installation of future BETA charging stations. So, as BETA and other electric aircraft designers bring their inventions to market, GHG will be ready to accommodate.

Meanwhile, charter activity continues amid construction.

And what better place? Hubs Boston, Hyannis, Providence all sit a few dozen miles from the airport. With the new runway coming in at 3,900 feet long and 100 feet wide, it can already accommodate small to midsize jets and turboprop planes. And as shown when BETA’s all-electric ALIA aircraft touched down at GHG in fall 2023, the airport is perfectly sized and situated to service the newly born industry.

Drainage enhancements are built into the ramp reconstruction.

Over the next two weeks contractor Lawrence Lynch Corp. will continue drainage work, electrical work, and excavation and hopefully begin to place P154 soil, a sub-base material that provides a strong, stable base to support the layers above it, typical in airports, according to Nick Prescott. Nick is the resident project representative with Airport Solutions Group. ASG is the airport’s consulting firm who designed the project. The P154 will fill 22 inches of the 32-inch box. Then a layer of P209 soil will go down. That’s a crushed aggregate base course designed to go on a prepared surface and provide a stable foundation. Once that’s approved, then will come the new asphalt.

A hearty new wooden rail separates the northern access road from wetlands.

The first phase of the safety improvement project saw the construction of the new longer and wider runway, important safety measures that allow aircraft to take off and land more safely. This ramp project is part of the Land Use with Higher Potential Pollutant Loads (LUHPPL) initiative, a conditional order to the runway program. It is a complete reconstruction and improvement of the main ramp to its borders with Taxiway Alpha, and it is essential to ensure continued operational safety and environmental compliance.

Enhancing airport safety is a high priority for the Airport Commission and Shoreline Aviation, as well as the FAA and MassDOT’s Aeronautics Division, which fund and administer a grant, respectively, financing most of the project. This project brings the airport to current FAA standards.

Charter flights continue amid Marshfield Airport ramp reconstruction work.