Improving our skyways.

Without airports, Alaska might quickly revert to running dogs, a transportation method from the first half of this century. Alaska is too vast, the conditions too harsh, to live at the present level of comfort without flight. And without flight, there is not much else to get around on.

Imagine a salmon without a stream, and you'll begin to understand an Alaska without airports.

At least 70 percent of Alaska is geographically disconnected from the road system. Without airports there is no state, only a smattering of isolated towns and villages spread across territory twice the size of Texas.

As Paul Bowers, director of statewide aviation with Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, sees it: "Our airports effectively become our road system. That's unlike anywhere else in America, except Hawaii."

About 3,000 landing strips are interspersed throughout the state if you count every gravel stretch and water skipway, but no one has bothered to document them all. The official airfield number rests at 1,112, says Carl Siebe, airports engineer with DOT.

Of the documented airports, some 287 are classified as public use. The state manages 266 of those and every year seeks funding to improve them with either new equipment or construction projects under federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants.

So far this year, the state has a spending plan of $83.4 million for 44 airports, according to Roger Maggard, airport development manager with DOT.

This funds new equipment such as a deicing truck in Yakutat, security fencing for Gustavus, a new dozer in Beaver, and a new loader in Tatitlek. Priority construction projects include a new runway for Eek and Noorvik, and a resurface job for Cordova. This year's funding for airport improvement projects increased by about $7 million, partly because some FAA decision-makers from Washington D.C. took a trip to the Alaska Bush, said engineer Siebe.

"When they walk into a village like Eek, they've never seen anything like that before," Siebe said. "All of a sudden, they understand why we need more."

RURAL IMPROVEMENTS

Standard community-class runways in roadless villages stretch 3,000 feet or so.

At 1,400 feet, Eek is one of the shortest runways managed by the state and a safety hazard. Building a new runway in the silty soil of the Kuskokwim River village is a lengthy project. At a cost of $3.6 million, construction begins by piling up the embankment of the new runway and apron.

Oddly for Alaska construction, the work starts in winter. Because the ground is soft, the dozers and back-hoes maintain their footing in the murky alluvial soil only when it's frozen stiff, Maggard said. Once the runway is formed, it has to settle for up to four years to allow the moisture to drain. Come 2002, the next phase of construction begins.

A longer runway will allow larger cargo planes to land, which should lower the cost of freight to this village of 277 residents. Now cargo is broken down into small packages or sent by barge. Up river, similar work in the first phase for the nearby village of Tuntutuliak will run $3.75 million.

Hundreds of miles north, just above the Arctic Circle, the village of Noorvik is getting a new runway for a different reason. The Kobuk River is washing away the existing runway. Work on the second phase of the $2.5 million project began last year, but was interrupted because the project didn't have enough money, Maggard said.

In the Southeast coastal town of Cordova, its 20-year-old runway is getting a facelift for $2.8 million. The asphalt on the 8,500-foot runway is beginning to break up and soften, which creates a landing hazard and a maintenance headache.

"If a jet engine injects a piece of asphalt, it will ruin the engine and potentially jeopardize the passengers," Maggard said.

The most expensive improvement project in the Bush is at Bethel, $7 million for a partial parallel taxiway, an apron expansion, and runway stabilization.

When a plane lands in Bethel, it has no taxiway to turn off the runway. The plane has to turn around and taxi back on the runway, Maggard said. Until the plane exits mid-way, other planes circle overhead and wait for a clear runway, which backs up traffic and creates a collision hazard.

ALASKA'S INTERNATIONALS

The profitable international airports at Anchorage and Fairbanks also get federal funding but none from the state's General Fund. Their alternative revenue is raised by landing fees, fuel flow taxes, and leases.

Under the AIP alone, Fairbanks gets $2 million in improvements to extend a taxiway this year. The funding will extend taxiway "D," as well as an environmental mitigation and drainage work. Another $5 million is being projected for terminal improvements and terminal roads and parking upgrades in 1999. Fairbanks International saw more than $5 million in improvement work in 1997.

However, the state's major airport construction spending for 1998 will be at Anchorage International Airport. Anchorage's $350 million terminal and multiple roadway upgrade project, Gateway Alaska, will be financed by international airport revenue bonds and federal airport funds.

Senator Jerry Ward (R-Anchorage/Kenai) described it as "...the single largest public works projects the state has ever undertaken and will represent a significant increase in the number of jobs for Alaskans."

Building the project will put people to work for five years on the terminal and for a decade on surrounding roadwork.

The terminal work begins with the demolition of Concourse C this year, with site work beginning next summer. The Gateway roadwork project will begin this summer and includes widening C Street from Tudor Road to International Airport Road; repaving International Airport between Old Seward Highway and Minnesota Drive; and awarding the contract for the interchange at Minnesota Drive and International Airport Road, a $20 million project. The Gateway plan includes:

* tearing down Concourse C, a crumbling building from the 1950s which has a heating system patched together by duct tape.

* building a new Concourse C and enlarging the baggage and ticket lobbies by 300 feet.

* adding five jet gates and seven parking spots for local carriers.

* building a covered walkway that connects the domestic and international terminals.

* pushing back the ticket area in the existing terminal by 40 feet.

* widening several surrounding streets and building a $20 million interchange at Minnesota Drive.

With these upgrades, the existing 435,000-square-foot domestic terminal would grow to 717,000 square feet.

Although Gateway Alaska is an enormous project, state leaders say the investment is critical for drawing more tourists and cargo and business. Anchorage International is the busiest airport in the state. In fiscal year 1997, 314,198 operations occurred, including air traffic at Lake Hood.

For the first time, five million passengers passed through the Anchorage International Airport this year. The number of visitors is expected to grow four percent a year through 2005, making already inadequate space tighter, according to a study.

Also, Anchorage is the number one cargo airport in the nation for freight moving between Europe, Asia, and North America. An average of 470 wide-body cargo jets land or take off each week. Overall air cargo is expected to increase at nearly six percent annually, with international cargo increasing at eight percent.

"Improving the Anchorage International Airport facilities is essential for Alaska's future economic viability," Ward said.

Anchorage's Merrill Field, a general aviation airport, is also slated to receive more than $2 million for taxiway and runway lighting, relocating taxiway G, and adding additional safety fencing. The new $5.7 million control tower will be completed in 1998.

Airport Funding

About 94 percent of the funding for the state AlP projects comes from the federal Airport and Airway User Trust Fund. The remaining money for all but the two international airports comes from the state General Fund. In most states, the federal government pays only 90 percent of AlP costs, but because of the vast federal land holdings here, Alaska gets more money.

The Airport Trust Fund is similar to the Highway User Trust Fund. Instead of taxes on gas, the taxes on domestic passenger tickets fuel the fund. Ten percent of the cost of a ticket for any domestic flight goes to the trust fund. So $30 of your $300 flight goes into the fund.

Anchorage's Shining Star

Gov. Tony Knowles calls Anchorage International airport one of the most important economic engines in the state.

Evidence abounds. When the airport does well, satellite businesses also profit and in turn reinvest. FedEx recently added a $38 million sorting facility in Anchorage. The building is only the fourth phase in a projected nine-phase expansion. FedEx, alone, employs 600 people at the airport.

Other private companies have already made investments in the airport. Alaska Airlines paid $8 million to expand a warehouse and cargo truck ramp facility last year.

At least 10 percent of the Anchorage work force is linked economically to the airport. And the industry is expanding. Local, national and international air carriers added new staff this year, said Jon McCracken at the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. Comparing the same period over last year, air transportation added about 500 jobs, involving air couriers and charters, as well as workers in terminal, janitorial, repair, storage, hangar, and desk jobs.

As of December last year, some 35 scheduled airlines and 11 seasonal airlines operated at Anchorage, while 20 airlines provided all-cargo freighter service, some of them including passenger service.