Airport gears up for runway closure, welcomes new robot

Martin Kidston

(Missoula Current) Baring a few helicopters, the skies over Missoula will fall quiet next week as Missoula Montana Airport closes its runway to fixed-wing aircraft for a major overhaul.

Airport director Brian Ellestad on Tuesday said many tasks associated with the closure are now taking place during overnight hours. But the runway will close for 127 hours between Sept. 2 and Sept. 7.

“The plan is to beat the weather here, which is coming Thursday. They'll get all the paving done and their pre-work done and come back on Sept. 2,” Ellestad said. “We'll be closed for 127 hours. There's lots of coordination with that.”

The closure will impact both commercial and fire aviation. Rain forecast for later this week could help dampen regional fires – perfect timing given the pending runway shutdown.

“The Forest Service was part of our conversation,” said Ellestad. “They're relocating planes to Coeur d'Alene and Helena. We'll still be an airport and have lots of helicopters. But it all depends on where the fire need is around the country.”

Ellestad said the runway overhaul is intended to address safety and efficiency with an eye on future growth in local air service. The work includes pavement, painting and electrical work, among other things.

The airport recently received $1.2 million in discretionary funding to aid the project, which is required every 20 years. This time, the result will include LED lighting, 80,000 feet of new electrical conductors and 54,000 tons of asphalt.

“They're prepping for all the electrical work to upgrade all our lights to LED on the runway,” said deputy airport director Tim Damrow. “There are some fairly deep groves on that surface. It'll be nice to have this done.”

While the airport has completed Phase 2 of its terminal project, Phase 3 won't be finished until early next month. Once finished, the east concourse will include four gates while baggage claim will move to its permanent location.

“With the shutdown coming up, there's not a huge rush to knock this out,” said Damrow, who also welcomed the airport's new food-service robot, named by a winning social media entry as “Air2 D2.”

“Right now it's tasked really with running food out from the kitchen and dirty dishes back,” said Damrow. “It's pretty entertaining. It's fairly sassy and will make comments if you get in its way. It does improve efficiency from the kitchen side.”