A report into the state of the crosswind runway at Cameron McIntosh Airport is recommending the runway stay officially closed until it has been rehabilitated.
That is the conclusion of a report done by Tetra-Tech, the airport’s safety management system consultants. They were tasked to examine the runway and see whether minor repairs could be done so it could be reopened.
The runway was closed in the fall of 2018 upon orders from Transport Canada, who had done their own inspection and ruled the runway unsafe. The main runway, which has been undergoing a major rehabilitation over the past few years, remains operational.
Tetra-Tech completed their own inspection of the crosswind runway June 11.
According to the consultants’ report, they state the runway is “overdue for a rehabilitation or reconstruction.”
The report cited a number of areas of pavement distress including rutting, alligator cracking, transverse and longitudinal cracking, block cracking, raveling, patching, and miscellaneous surface defects.
Following discussions with the consultants, city administration is recommending the crosswind runway remain closed until it is rehabilitated.
When the city might proceed is still up in the air.
In discussions at council Monday, councillor Greg Lightfoot posed a question to administration on whether the runway might be rehabilitated using Community Airports Partnership (CAP) funding.
“This is something we can access and we are looking at it,” responded Director of Utilities Stewart Schafer. But Schafer added “we want to finish off the main runway this year.”
Mayor Ryan Bater did point out that the city had applied for CAP funding this year and had not been approved, but that did not stop them from applying in 2020.
