WARWICK, R.I. - T.F. Green Airport closed its secondary runway Monday, signaling the start of nearly $250 million worth of improvement projects and land acquisitions that will span the next four years.
"This really kicks off construction work that will culminate in four years with the extension of our [main] runway," Kelly Fredericks, president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said Tuesday morning.
Fredericks said that the secondary runway, which is undergoing safety improvements, will be closed until around Thanksgiving and then will reopen for a couple of months in
the winter until the construction season resumes in the spring.
That work, which is expected to be completed in 2015, involves installing buffers constructed of light-density, crushable concrete intended to stop aircraft that overrun the landing strip.
Fredericks said that the closing of the secondary runway should not delay or interrupt flight traffic at Green.
The next four years will be very busy, he said, as the airport will be juggling several major construction projects.
In addition to the safety improvements on the secondary runway, T.F. Green will soon began construction of a roughly $25-million collection system and processing plant that will keep glycol-based deicing solution that is used on the planes from getting into the groundwater and storm drains.
As that project is completed, the airport will turn its attention to re-configuring a short section of Main Avenue so it can then move forward with extending its main runway.
The 1,500-foot extension of the runway is expected to take place in 2016 through 2017.
Fredericks said that over the next four years, the airport will also continue with the voluntary purchase or soundproofing of homes and businesses that qualify under Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
People who want to see how the safety buffers, called Engineered Material Arresting Systems, work can check out YouTube videos that Fredericks said he finds helpful in making public presentations.