ECI – Engineers Construction

Franklin County State Airport Runway 18-36 & Taxiway Extensions – Highgate, VT

ECI’s Client:  Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans)

Completion Date: Summer 2024

Subcontractors:

• Farrow Enterprises – Tree Clearing
• Green Leaf Forestry – Licensed Forester
• KOBO Utility Construction Corp –Electrical Work
• Pike Industries – Paving

ECI was hired to expand the Franklin County State Airport.  The project included lengthening the runway 1,000’, building a new 35’ x 2,000’ taxiway along the runway extension and widening the existing taxiway by 15’.  The purpose of this project was to upgrade the runway to accommodate larger aircraft and bring it up to current federal regulations.

There were originally 4 phases to this project:

Phase I              Clearing

Phase II             Runway work outside of the RSA (Runway Safety Area)

Phase III            Close runway and perform work inside the RSA

Phase IV            Open runway and perform taxiway work

Our approach to VTrans was that we could combine Phase III and IV and complete the entire project 5 weeks ahead of their schedule.  We were able to achieve that schedule and in doing so opened the runway a week earlier than anticipated.

Phase I

Selective clearing of 11 acres to the south of the runway.  Some of these areas were in wetlands.  The wetland permit was not obtained until after the bid, and it changed the scope of work for this phase.  We were no longer able to use equipment in the wetlands during the winter months to clear, herbicide was required on all stumps, the clearing was changed to a height-based criteria instead of full clearing and all work was to be overseen by a licensed forester.  There were 7 different zones of height restrictions based on distance from the runway.  The closer the trees were to the runway the shorter the height they were allowed to be.  We brought on Green Leaf Forestry to help our clearing sub, Farrow Enterprises, to determine which trees needed to be cut.  The clearing was difficult.  Access was limited and trees had to be removed from residential properties sometimes within 30’ of houses.  With equipment not being able to be used in the wetlands Brett Farrow enlisted the help of his brother and his draft horse Rooster.  We pushed the limits of “no equipment in the wetland” and Brett was able to use his Feller Buncher to take the trees down and Rooster dragged them out.  The clearing was finished up in the beginning of March of 2024 and the project was shut down until April 15^th when Phase II started.

Phase II

All work outside of the RSA (Runway Safety Area) was completed.  This included moving 35,000 cubic yards of material to create the new runway and taxiway, extension grades, 1,500’ of new drainage pipe, a new wind cone, new segmental circle, new electrical circuits and lighting, and topsoil to within 300’ of the end of the runway.  100% modified compaction was required on all fill material and the most challenging part was obtaining this compaction on the 7’ fills using the existing on-site sand.

Phase III

With the runway closed the remaining 300 feet of runway was installed, the existing taxiway was widened, all gravel was installed, the remaining runway lighting was installed, along with paving of the runway and taxiway extension/widening, striping and final topsoiling and hydroseeding.  There was a 60 day closure allowed but due to combining Phase III and IV the runway was open in 53 days.