Spartanburg, SC
The long-term goal of the City of Spartanburg had been to bring the runway safety area up to standards for safer operations at the facility and to extend the runway longer than the existing 5,200 feet available. Given terrain and development constraints, it was considered an unrealistic goal. However, Ardurra (WK Dickson) has been working with the city to help acquire land, line up grant funding, and put proper planning documents in place to enable this project.
The project began with an Environmental Assessment Study for the Runway Safety Area/Runway Extension Project with components for the runway extension justification and economic feasibility study. It was found to be justified, and the recommended alternative went to design. Meanwhile, the few remaining parcels needed to complete the project were purchased. Spread out over three separate construction phases, the project included the movement of approximately 1.4 million CY of fill to realize a standard safety area around a 650 ft. longer runway. A third phase of the project included rehabilitation of the original runway and a taxiway sectional re-grade and reconstruction and replacement of runway lighting and relocating/upgrading the existing NAVAIDs.