JOHNSTOWN — The “new” had hardly faded from Johnstown airport’s $18 million in runway improvements when its marking paint started peeling.
“It’s in terrible shape,” airport manager Scott Voelker told Johns-town-Cambria County Airport Authority members last month.
“That runway should not be in that condition for as new as it is.”
Voelker said he was working with runway contractor Hi-Way Paving Inc., the Army Corps of Engineers and manufacturer The Sherwin-Williams Co. to determine if the issue could be resolved.
The reflective paint contains tiny glass beads and marks numbers, centerline and other features for optimum visibility by pilots.
This week, Voelker reported back to the airport authority, and the news was not good:
The Corps agreed that Hi-Way paving met the contract specifications.
“We had a chip of paint taken and sent out to Sherwin-Williams,” Voelker said during this week’s meeting. “They are also saying the useful life of the paint is one to two years. We hope that is not true.”
Last year, the old asphalt runway was replaced with reinforced concrete to accommodate heavier aircraft. The new surface could be contributing to the paint issue, tower manager Dennis Fritz said.
“There are not too many airports that have concrete runways,” Fritz said, adding the Johnstown winters require more deicing chemicals and snow plowing.
Airport employees have repainted runway numbers manually, authority Chairman Raymond Porsch said. The next step may be purchasing a paint vehicle for less than $20,000.
Contracting the project could cost up to $100,000 a year.
“This is an example of how we are trying to do more in house and hold down the cost,” Porsch said.
“We are running the airport more like a business,” member Bill Polacek said.
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