By Julie McCay Turner
The planned resurfacing of the main runway at Hanscom Field may make August 2017 in Bedford feel longer than usual.
Known to pilots as 11-29, Hanscom Field’s main runway is 7,011 feet long and 150 feet wide, roughly 1,051,650 square feet of asphalt.The project will involve milling and removing that asphalt, then installing a new grooved surface.
Last resurfaced more than 20 years ago, the round-the-clock project on Hanscom Field’s main runway will begin on August 1 and last for approximately six weeks, according to Massport estimates.
Impact on Airport Operations
The field will remain open, with air traffic diverted to runway 05-23 during the reconstruction.
The shift to runway 05-23, Hanscom’s secondary, crosswind runway will not affect the number of aircraft operations during the course of the project but will shift the direction in which planes land and take off. Visit the Hanscom Field Airport Operations web page to learn more about the way take-off and landing patterns for runways 11-29 and 05-23 affect the communities surrounding the field.
Impact on Bedford Traffic
Massport has planned a pair of routes through Bedford to remove the material milled from the runway and to deliver fresh asphalt:
- The western end of the runway will be served by a staging area just off Hartwell Road at the now-unused Naval Hangar. Leaving Route 3 at the Concord Road exit in Billerica, trucks will travel along North Road, turning right onto Concord Road at Willson Park, then left onto Hartwell Road. Massport estimates the number of trips to this gate at approximately 5,574.
- The runway’s eastern end will be serviced through a staging area off South Road. Trucks will exit Route 128, travel west along Bedford Street, turning left into Hartwell Avenue, then right onto Maguire Road in Lexington. Maguire becomes Summer Street in Bedford and continues into South Road until it reaches the field entrance at the USAF Family Camp. Approximately 1,300 trips are estimated to this staging area.
Access to Hanscom via Route 2A and either Hanscom Drive or Virginia Road would create an unacceptable safety risk, with trucks crossing runway 05-23 that will serve as the field’s main runway during the construction.
The resurfacing project has been on Massport’s monthly project report to the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission(HFAC) for more than a year, although the specific impact of the project to Bedford residents only came to light during HFAC’s June 2017 meeting. Further details were presented during their July meeting in Bedford.
According to Amber Goodspeed, manager of airport operations, work will be especially intense during the first week of August when the surface milling begins.
Margot Fleischman, chair of Bedford’s Selectmen noted, “We recognize that these runway repairs are necessary but are concerned about the impact on Bedford neighborhoods of the proposed truck routes, especially since they intend to work 24/7.”
Fleischman added, “Town Manager Rick Reed and I have both reached out to Massport directly and I have also spoken with Rep. Ken Gordon about our concerns.” While support for additional police details during the project is being worked out, there has been no mention of redress for potential roadway degradation.
Bedford Selectman and HFAC Chair Mike Rosenberg affirmed his commitment to the Town and to the residents of Bedford, citing particular support for families living at the end of South Road where traffic is typically negligible.
Rosenberg added that a special section of the Massport website will be launched shortly, and there will be recorded messages tracking the project’s progress.
Click this link to read Massport’s initial press release in The Bedford Citizen.
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I think it is worth at least asking Massport why they could not have accessed the two “ends” of runway11-29 from the Hanscom AFB main entrance off of Hartwell Ave / Barksdale St and via Virginia Road from the Route 2A Civilian Air Terminal side, both much less residential intensive alternatives – this would have dramatically reduced the impact on residents along North Rd, Concord Rd, Hartwell Rd, South Rd, Summer St, and Mcquire Rd. Also to say air traffic is unchanged seems a bit disingenuous in that ALL the air traffic during this period will be on 5-23 instead of 11-29 and since 11-29 is the “main” runway in fact the increase in air traffic experienced on 5-23 will be over 50%. Also given each runway is oriented for best use during various wind directions if in fact Massport anticipates 100 % of the traffic will still be serviced we can anticipate some potentially scary maximum crosswind landings on 5-23. And the final salt in the wound is the same folks on Hartwell Road and South Road who will see dramatically increased truck traffic will also bear the brunt of the increased air traffic. Well at least Great Meadows in Concord will get a little break on air noise for a bit.
this had nothing to do with hanscom . the problem facing this small town that AM and PM rush hour traffic BECAUSE THIS IS NOT ENOUGH “BACK ROADS” . BEDFORD NEEDS A NEW TRANSPORTATION PLAN.
Do we know what hours the 1000 trucks/week will be on North Road? Night, 7am-3pm, etc?
How much damage are they likely to do to our mostly smooth roads?
This will be a round-the-clock, 24/7 project