Construction of 12 Hanscom Field hangars accessible from Hartwell Road soon will get underway.
However, a separate project with much more significant impact on residential areas is still months away.
Amber Goodspeed, director of airport operations, told the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission at its monthly virtual meeting Tuesday that the Massachusetts Port Authority Board of Directors will review the three bids received for that project at a meeting in May.
If a contractor is chosen, negotiations will follow, along with the permitting process.
Massport doesn’t label that plan a “fixed-based operator,” but the criteria in the request for proposals point to that description, as it includes components like maintenance and service, aircraft fueling, “general office use for aviation-related communications, operations, support, training and administrative functions, and tenant employee areas.”
Meanwhile, pre-construction activity for the so-called box hangars continues off Hartwell Road east of the Werfen facilities (formerly Instrumentation Laboratory), such as erosion control measures, fencing, and signage.
Ross Aviation plans to construct three hangars off Virginia Road in Concord, and smaller hangars on that site will be replaced with the ones planned for the Bedford site. Goodspeed said the original plan for 38 hangars has been amended to 12.
Jennifer Mehigan, director of Massport media relations, reported this week that there will be four buildings containing two hangars each and a fifth building with four hangars. The facilities will not be visible from Hartwell Road, she noted.
Construction will take place over approximately the next 12 months, on weekdays during normal business hours, said Mehigan. “Construction traffic will be updated at regular HFAC meetings and depends upon the phase of the project.”
Emily Mitchell of the Bedford Select Board asked Goodspeed about prospects for truck traffic. There could be deliveries of steel by the end of the month, she said, adding, “I intend to bring you a monthly overview.”
She was reluctant to be specific about delivery dates, as they can be affected by weather or supply-chain issues. State police personnel assigned to Hanscom are in contact with Bedford police about any traffic impact, she said.
Goodspeed also downplayed concerns that the 12 new hangars will accommodate large airplanes. They are earmarked for current tenants, she said. However, Goodspeed could not answer a question as to whether there will be fuel operations at the new cluster.
The original hangars in Concord were called T-hangars and are being replaced by box hangars. This nomenclature stems from the buildings’ appearance and their size.
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