The city of Durango announced Monday that Durango-La Plata County Airport will close down for 10 days in September 2022 as the airport repaves its runway.
DRO will suspend all commercial flights, as well as cargo, aerial firefighting, emergency medical and military training flights from Wednesday, Sept. 7, through Friday, Sept. 16, 2022.
The closure will only affect airplanes. Helicopter traffic will remain unaffected.
“We’re just shy of 2 miles in overall runway length, so it’s a significant paving job,” said Tony Vicari, director of aviation for DRO. “And due to the obvious impacts of the runway closure on the airport and the surrounding economy and community, we'll be pushing to complete this project as quick as possible.”
Crews will work 24/7 to complete the mill and overlay project, in which the top 3 inches of runway asphalt will be scraped off and replaced, Vicari said. Workers will then groove the pavement to improve traction and repaint the runway.
The airport also plans to replace its runway lights with new energy efficient LED lights and use the 10-day window to complete other maintenance and cleanup projects in the terminal and parking lots.
Vicari said the airport worked with many local stakeholders to determine the best time to close the airport. They looked at weather conditions, peak passenger travel, the wildfire season and daily traffic volumes, settling on a window immediately before or after Labor Day.
The airport decided to avoid travel disruptions to the start of Fort Lewis College’s fall semester in late August, opting for the second week of September instead.
“There’s going to be interruptions for sure, but we think we ultimately did the best job we could to find dates that will have the least cumulative impact across the board,” Vicari said.
The project is the first major runway maintenance since at least 2014.
“It’s kind of a once every 10 year type of project,” Vicari said.
The preventive work is critical for making sure that normal airport operations go uninterrupted.
“You could absolutely make the argument that doing major asphalt preventive maintenance like this on the runway is essentially the most important infrastructure work we do,” Vicari said.
Repaving the 9,201-foot-long runway will extend the life of DRO’s only runway by about 10 years, Vicari said.
DRO, the primary airport for the Four Corners, has grown steadily over the last decade. In 2019, the airport welcomed more than 390,000 passengers, up from about 183,000 passengers in 2001.
So far in 2021, 329,000 passengers have flown through DRO, which is on track to reach 2019’s passenger total in a rebound from last year’s pandemic-limited travel.
Each of the last five months has broken monthly passenger records, Vicari said. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the airport expects similar travel next year.
United, American and Frontier have been asked not to sell tickets during the 10 days the airport is closed. However, Vicari said that those planning trips in advance should be aware in case the airlines have yet to blackout those travel dates.
Travelers who still plan to fly can go through Cortez Municipal Airport and Albuquerque International Sunport, according to the city’s news release.
The airport and city are releasing details about the closure almost a year ahead of time to limit any effects of the project.
“We want to be as communicative as possible with the public so they understand the impacts and are not surprised,” Vicari said.
ahannon@durangoherald.com
