From the Flight Deck

Even though there are weeks to go for the Marshfield Airport ramp reconstruction project – which is projected to go into the middle of the fall to complete – the next couple of weeks are going to appear quiet. Maybe even boring.

Nick Prescott is the resident project representative with Airport Solutions Group, who designed the ramp project. He said that the contractor, Lawrence Lynch Corp., would finish reclaiming the pavement on the terminal apron, or ramp, mid-week this week, and then move into drainage work and excavating material offsite.

“So, unfortunately, it’s going to be a boring part of the project for the next two weeks we’re here,” he said. “That’s pretty much it, just drainage and excavation, maybe some electrical work, nothing crazy.”

New soil is scooped up to go into a base layer mix.

New soil is added to a mixture with repurposed asphalt and soil and new stone to create a new base layer.

“Crazy” is a good way to describe the action on the main ramp so far, however. Demolition on it began August 11, with heavy milling machines slicing up the asphalt surface and hard top soil, mixing it to be partly reused in a recipe to create reconstruction support layers. Extra material will be hauled away and recycled. That was followed by bulldozers and an excavator digging a 32-inch cut into the soil. Old and new soil is being mixed with stone to create new base layers.

The apron, or ramp, is the open asphalt surface stretching between the airport terminal/admin building on Old Colony Lane and the large maintenance and jet hangars. This is where planes are fueled, charter aircraft begin and end flights, and small planes are tied down to prevent movement while stored at the airport.

A Citation charter jet rolls down the runway for takeoff while Taxiway Alpha is partly closed.

During this process, main entrance Gate 2, next to the admin building, will be closed, and aircraft owners and charter customers are asked to park in front of the building instead of on the ramp. Airport manager Shoreline Aviation personnel will transport them to their destinations.

The view from the terminal waiting room.

This ramp reconstruction project is the final phase of the airport safety improvement project initiated in 2002. A new, longer and wider runway was built in 2014, making takeoffs and landings safer. The ramp reconstruction 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 (which parallels the runway) and is essential to ensure continued operational safety and environmental compliance.

An excavator and dump truck are framed by sophisticated airport electronics.

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