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Small-plane gateway gets millions in aid
NORTHWAY: Federal money will help restore facility hurt by quake.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 28, 2006
Last Modified: February 28, 2006 at 03:00 AM
An airport 275 miles northeast of Anchorage and 40 miles from Canada that serves as a critical pit stop for small planes flying into Alaska is slated to get a $14 million face-lift this summer, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Northway Airport, severely damaged in a 2002 earthquake, has a storied past and serves as the point of entry to some 800 light aircraft that fly in annually from Outside, refuel and register with U.S. Customs.
"This is actually a pretty substantial airport," said Shannon McCarthy, regional spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, which owns the airport and asked the federal government for the funds to rebuild it. "And the damage sustained in the earthquake was significant."
The project will pave over the gravel strip put in as a temporary fix after the earthquake and extend the 3,300-foot runway to its original 5,100-foot length, enabling commercial jets, military C-130s and even fighter jets to land.
The Northway Airport is the alternative airport for Fairbanks International Airport -- meaning that in cases of emergency, any planes scheduled to land in Fairbanks can re-route to Northway. It is also the only airport in the region that serves as a base for medevac operations and wildfire firefighters in the summer. Canadian fighter jets have landed there in emergencies.
FEMA has contributed just under $11 million to the project; the remaining $3 million comes from state disaster relief bonds. FEMA approved funding for the project in August 2004.
"We've just been waiting for the federal funds until now," said Jamie Littrell, spokesman for the state's division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The state did not have enough money to do the reconstruction on its own, McCarthy said.
The $14 million price tag includes not only repairing and paving the runway but also taxiways and nearby roads.
In November 2002, the magnitude 7.9 Denali Fault earthquake, centered about 100 miles from Northway, caused the runway and surrounding airport grounds to crack and divide. Sand boils and fissures, some more than 3 feet wide, and sinkholes up to 13 feet wide and 3 feet deep pockmarked the runway, according to a U.S. Geological Survey assessment. Gov. Tony Knowles declared the area a disaster.
The federal government built the airport during World War II as part of the Northwest Staging Route, a project between the U.S. and Canada to bring aircraft and supplies from the Lower 48 to Alaska in defense of the Japanese threat.
Since then, mostly in the summer, two-engine planes flying up from the Lower 48 or from Canada usually pass through Whitehorse, about 250 miles away, then to Northway, on their way to Anchorage, Fairbanks and other destinations.
"A lot of them can't make it past Northway," said Jim Moody, owner of Airport Lodge, where pilots eat, sleep and refuel their planes. "It's kind of essential as a fuel stop."
The project may increase flight traffic to Northway, he said. "A lot of Lower 48 pilots don't like to land on gravel."
As for the 300 people who live in the Northway area, local village council member Darrell Kaase said, "The people here would actually benefit very little from this."
NORTHWAY: Federal money will help restore facility hurt by quake.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 28, 2006
Last Modified: February 28, 2006 at 03:00 AM
Click to enlarge
An airport 275 miles northeast of Anchorage and 40 miles from Canada that serves as a critical pit stop for small planes flying into Alaska is slated to get a $14 million face-lift this summer, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Northway Airport, severely damaged in a 2002 earthquake, has a storied past and serves as the point of entry to some 800 light aircraft that fly in annually from Outside, refuel and register with U.S. Customs.
"This is actually a pretty substantial airport," said Shannon McCarthy, regional spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, which owns the airport and asked the federal government for the funds to rebuild it. "And the damage sustained in the earthquake was significant."
The project will pave over the gravel strip put in as a temporary fix after the earthquake and extend the 3,300-foot runway to its original 5,100-foot length, enabling commercial jets, military C-130s and even fighter jets to land.
The Northway Airport is the alternative airport for Fairbanks International Airport -- meaning that in cases of emergency, any planes scheduled to land in Fairbanks can re-route to Northway. It is also the only airport in the region that serves as a base for medevac operations and wildfire firefighters in the summer. Canadian fighter jets have landed there in emergencies.
FEMA has contributed just under $11 million to the project; the remaining $3 million comes from state disaster relief bonds. FEMA approved funding for the project in August 2004.
"We've just been waiting for the federal funds until now," said Jamie Littrell, spokesman for the state's division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The state did not have enough money to do the reconstruction on its own, McCarthy said.
The $14 million price tag includes not only repairing and paving the runway but also taxiways and nearby roads.
In November 2002, the magnitude 7.9 Denali Fault earthquake, centered about 100 miles from Northway, caused the runway and surrounding airport grounds to crack and divide. Sand boils and fissures, some more than 3 feet wide, and sinkholes up to 13 feet wide and 3 feet deep pockmarked the runway, according to a U.S. Geological Survey assessment. Gov. Tony Knowles declared the area a disaster.
The federal government built the airport during World War II as part of the Northwest Staging Route, a project between the U.S. and Canada to bring aircraft and supplies from the Lower 48 to Alaska in defense of the Japanese threat.
Since then, mostly in the summer, two-engine planes flying up from the Lower 48 or from Canada usually pass through Whitehorse, about 250 miles away, then to Northway, on their way to Anchorage, Fairbanks and other destinations.
"A lot of them can't make it past Northway," said Jim Moody, owner of Airport Lodge, where pilots eat, sleep and refuel their planes. "It's kind of essential as a fuel stop."
The project may increase flight traffic to Northway, he said. "A lot of Lower 48 pilots don't like to land on gravel."
As for the 300 people who live in the Northway area, local village council member Darrell Kaase said, "The people here would actually benefit very little from this."