Repair work at Chinook airport to be completed by August 17

According to Ed Obie, Chinook's Airport Manager, the construction equipment seen working in front of the airport's hangars should be gone in a couple of weeks. He said, "Century Construction, out of Lewistown, is doing work to repair some soft spots on the apron area and improve drainage there as well." Morrison Maierle, from Helena, engineered the project. He said there has been only minor repair work on the area since 1992.

"Because of the flat terrain where the airport sits," Obie explained, "there has always been a drainage problem on the parking area for planes, around the fueling station and in front of the hangars." He said only a few 'soft spots' would have the asphalt removed and replaced. For the rest of the area the existing asphalt would be milled and shallow 'drainage slot's would be created to move the water off the apron and parking area.

The project started on July 24. The location of the work meant hangar access and aircraft fueling was stopped during the work. That involved notifying, through a centralized service available to pilots, that fuels would not be available. Obie said, "It would be very bad if a pilot planned a trip with a refueling stop and then learned there was construction blocking the fuel area."

The contractor gave airport officials a complete date of August 17. Obie said, "With the dry weather we've been having, they likely will have the work completed before that date, but they would be allowed more time if something held up their work." Century Construction does a lot of airport paving jobs in Montana according to Obie. He added, "It's not like paving a parking lot, there are all sorts of rules and regulations. These folks are familiar with how all that works."