Playing With Trucks and Dirt

I’m a pretty cool guy to my two young sons right now, because they think Dad is playing in the greatest sandbox ever. It is pretty incredible when I look around the site, especially the 200 acres or so that is directly affected by the first part of the AirVenture site plan work. The look changes each day with the heavy machines running around out here, so it’s a very exciting time on the grounds.

Some parts of the project have already been talked about, such as the new pedestrian routes that give someone coming to AirVenture a choice of three paths to unique destinations when they first walk through the main gate.

But today, I want to talk about stormwater drainage. That may sound dull, but the system going in here is state-of-the-art stuff. It’s been used in the eastern U.S. but never in a project of this scale. Last week we finished filling a 230,000-cubic foot underground retention area with clear stone. This is in addition to underground “cells” below the new walkways that will drain rainwater from those areas and into the large retention area. That storm water will then naturally drain into the groundwater system and head toward Lake Winnebago, instead of overwhelming ditches and ponds on the site.

More than 2,000 truckloads of stone were brought onto the site to fill the cells and large retention area. The best part is that when it’s all done, you won’t even notice it. You’ll walk over the cells under the new thoroughfares. The new Fly Market and exhibit spaces southwest of Exhibit Hangar D will stand over the underground retention area. The underground location will eliminate the problems with large above-ground retention ponds, such as algae and bugs.

I’ll be telling you a lot more about the project in the coming weeks. Right now, though, I’m heading back to the big sandbox.