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June 07, 2007
Public turned loose onto airport runway
Aspen Daily News
Philip Armour - Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
For two hours in the afternoon -- when rain, sleet and lightning effectively shut the party down -- airport officials let the public enjoy the repaved and silky smooth runaway on "any non-motorized vehicles," as one airport official greeting visitors put it.
An impressive menagerie of wheeled conveyances darted across the newly repaved runway, including skateboards of every shape and size, bicycles (ditto), rollerblades (with and without ski poles), kick scooters, a quadracycle (think: Flintstones car with pedals), wheelchairs, electric toy airplanes, strollers, and more. One guy was even harnessing the day's hurricane-force winds with a "wind-skate," a handheld sail that propelled him and his skateboard to frightening speeds.
"This is the last chance for the next 25 years to get out on that runway, so take advantage of it," said Pitkin County Commissioner Michael Owsley in a speech to thank and congratulate the airport staff and contractors.
Almost as impressive was the smorgasbord of free food and drinks served up by Back Door Catering. Sushi, chicken wings, watermelon, deviled eggs and more filled the tables. A large cake read: "Congratulations On Time. Door prizes included a free tandem paragliding flight with Aspen Paragliding and lots of bike helmets and water bottles."
"Where else in the world would they do this? Only in Aspen," said John Carter, one of the catering staff.
Local personalities made it to the event as well. Klaus Obermeyer, 87, was dressed in tight riding shorts and straddling a handmade bike from Italy painted in an American flag motif and stenciled with the word "Hawaii."
"A friend of mine from Milan made this bike for me and shipped it here to celebrate Hawaii becoming a sate," said Obermeyer, reminiscing about 1959.
"It still goes pretty good," he added, patting the 48-year-old bike, then turned to a friend and unleashed one of his trademark yodels. "Ciao baby!"
To remind people of the intense labor undertaken over the last 60 days, airport officials also lined up a row of massive construction equipment and snow removal machines near the front entrance. There was even a yellow-painted Saab 900 Turbo, marked with black letters reading: Friction Tester and a flashing light on the roof. Revelers zigzagged through the parked behemoths before zipping down the 7,004-foot-long runway.
Owsley said it took a total of 38,000 accident-free man-hours to accomplish the airport work at a cost of $12.7 million. The Federal Aviation Administration forked over about 95 percent of the funds, according to Owsley.
At its peak, the project had 125 workers per day and was spending $300,000 a day. Sixty thousand cubic yards of dirt were moved from the east end of the runway and 40,000 tons of asphalt were poured onto the runway, Owsley said.
Asked why the resurfacing project was not put on hold until the fate of the proposed runway extension was decided, Owsley said, "This had already been approved and the funding was lined up. We're still waiting on the environmental impact statement for the runway extension. There will also be a round of public commentary. These are two totally different projects."
"This smooths things out for us. It's a short runway at a high altitude so everything helps," said pilot Dave Faddis, director of flight training and standards for SkyWest Airlines.
"It's a good day," said airport director Jim Elwood, breathing a sigh of relief. Fielding congratulatory handshakes he touted the runway's new culvert, 20-foot paved shoulders, and repainted runway markers.
"We just wanted to acknowledge the community's patience and the impact the project has had one everyone," he said about opening the field to rolling revelers.
The first flight is scheduled to arrive today at 4:43 p.m. from Denver.
Posted by Dina at June 7, 2007 02:26 PM
