Dover AFB to begin runway renovations

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class William Johnson
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  Dover AFB senior leaders and a team of Dover's runway repair contractors and subcontractors met on January 30 to kick off the closing of Dover AFB's main runway for the beginning phase of a $98.3 million repair project.

Beginning on February 2, the north-south runway 01-19 closed to undergo renovations to rebuild the aging asphalt and concrete that has been of concern since 2005. Col. Michael Grismer, 436th Airlift Wing commander, met with the contractors to provide an in-depth look at Team Dover's mission and the need for the project to be completed safely, on time, and within budget.

"We invited our contractors to meet wing leadership, as well as to discuss my priorities for this project--open communication with a focus on safety, schedule, and specifications," said Grismer. Our contractor team now controls portions of our airfield, which inherently makes them part of Team Dover. This project is bigger than Dover Air Force Base. It is vitally important to our Air Force, the Department of Defense, and our country."

Completion of the runway repair is scheduled for June 2016.

"This can be a huge success story for us all if we can get it done on time or even before," said Grismer.

The runway has been in service since the 1940s and is crucial to permitting the C-5M Super Galaxies and C-17A Globemaster IIIs to accomplish their missions for the 436th and 512th Airlift Wings. In the last year alone, 31 Dover AFB aircraft touch downed on 230 airfields in 62 countries.

Lt. Col. Scott Bryant, 436th Civil Engineer Squadron commander, said the runway will undergo renovations that have been needed since 2005 and will fix issues such as cracking concrete and potting that previously required regular patch work which was both costly and time consuming for the Air Force.

"This is an older runway that is eating itself from the inside out," said Bryant. "This [project] is a great investment. We are shooting for this runway to last 75 to 100 years with proper maintenance."

Dover AFB is home to the DoD's largest aerial port and the nation's only Port Mortuary which is expected to see changes to its operations in light of the project. One of the most significant challenges will be in Phase II of the project when the runway will be limited to 6,000 foot approaches from June to December.

"We are looking to shorten this 6,000 foot landing strip period to the shortest time possible because that's when we will have the most operational impact," said Grismer.

Lt. Col. Mark Radio, 436th Operations Support Squadron director of operations, said the result of the limited runway is shifting most of Dover's C-5 operations to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. However, the C-17s will still be able to utilize the shorter runway when load capacity is not maxed out. A majority of the C-5 crews and maintainers assigned to the aircraft will also transition to JB MDL to support the aircraft while a handful will stay behind to support operations here.

"We will be heading up to JB MDL in the June time frame which will allow the C-5 mission to continue," said Radio. "The beauty is our relationship that we have with our joint base to the north. It is close in proximity so our people will be able to come back and see their families during that timeframe, minimizing the stress."

Dover AFB crews that will remain here and operate on the shorter runway are already preparing and training for limited runway capabilities.

"We are being proactive on training our crews to get in and out of that 6,000 foot strip," said Grismer. "Getting that precision runway back up and running is going to be key for us."

Safety remains as the highest priority not only for Grismer and Dover AFB, but the contract workers as well who are confident they can meet the deadlines on time and in a safe manner.

"We understand your mission and we are fully supportive," said Jeff Habegger, Versar general superintendent, to Grismer. "I have a high level of confidence that we have an excellent team put together and we are going to do our very best to provide you with a high quality product, on time and safely."