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County planning $2 million worth of airport work
Paved area for planes to expand
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More from County NewsThe county of Ventura will spend about $2 million to repave portions of the Camarillo and Oxnard airports and cover a potentially dangerous drainage ditch at the Oxnard Airport.
Three separate contracts for work at the airports will go before the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. They are on the board's consent agenda, which means they are scheduled to be approved without debate.
They call for a total of $2.12 million in airport improvements, $1.98 million of which will come from Federal Aviation Administration grants. The county will pick up the remainder, except for a $4,600 grant from the state.
The biggest project, at $1.8 million, is a set of improvements to the drainage system at the Oxnard Airport. The county's contractor, Sukut Construction, will replace one drainage ditch with a covered structure known as a box culvert, and another exposed ditch with an underground pipe.
"We have a large open ditch that parallels Victoria (Avenue), and that's considered a hazard at the end of the runway," County Airports Director Todd McNamee said. "If a plane were to hit the ditch, it would do much more damage than if it just hit the ground."
The Oxnard and Camarillo airports will both get newly paved aprons, the areas outside hangers where planes often park, McNamee said.
"They're just aged," he said. "Those are the original pavement sections from when the airports opened, more than 30 years ago. They're worn out, they're cracking and you get debris, and that doesn't go well with airplanes."
At the Camarillo Airport, the apron also will be expanded north of the runway to make room for new hangars still in the planning stages, McNamee said. The new hangars will eventually bring space for about 30 more planes, on top of the 500 the airport now holds.
"We need more hangars," McNamee said. "We typically have an eight- to 10-year wait, and right now there are about 200 people on the waiting list."
All of the improvements will probably be finished sometime in 2010, McNamee said.
Posted by onapproach on July 12, 2008 at 11:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't live in the area, but I think this is great news for the residents!
Posted by wbogaardt on July 14, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Glad this is happening. Ditches and airplanes dont' go well together. I'm also happy to see that the old aprons are getting replaced like our roads these surfaces need some care and replacement as they wear out.
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