Friday, February 13, 2009

Warming Up, Powering Down

Yes, I’m writing on Friday the 13th, just to show that I’m not superstitious. I even managed to sneak away for a few days of vacation in a nice warm climate before getting back to work here on the site this week. No photos this week, since there’s not a specific “thing” to feature. But there will be some real soon, certainly.

Now that the weather is finally warming, we brought all the contractors together to look over the upcoming projects and prioritize them for the coming months. In a regular year there is a lot of competition for staff time and resources, but with the major site project going on, those demands increase in a big way. We want to be ready when the weather breaks completely.

It’s an interesting time of year, because we have to be careful when driving on the grounds. The very top of the turf is thawing or is only lightly frozen, so we can cause a lot of damage to the grounds while driving if we’re not careful.

One thing we’re anticipating is paving the new thoroughfares with porous asphalt. This product, which is made from materials such as recycled shingles, limits water runoff and keeps more of the rainwater on the site to maintain the water table. Our project engineers tell us that this is fairly new technology in the emerging “green construction” methods. We’re told that this extra effort might even make us eligible for some awards when the project is finished.

I’ve received a few e-mails on the status of electrical hookups in Camp Scholler. I can say this is an area that the input of EAA members and AirVenture visitors has been very valuable for the past six months. After reviewing the comments and the maps, we’ve put that project on hold for at least one year. The reason is simple: it’s not certain that the proposed location was the best one. It’s better to step back and really study how to best to it rather than push through and then have to re-do it later. It’s that “measure twice, cut once” principle I mentioned last week.

One last thing: I mentioned that we welcome EAA Chapters and individuals who would like to volunteer a day or a weekend on the site effort or on other grounds projects. We did, however, manage to leave out any contact point. So here goes: If you’re interested, just give us a call at 920-426-4819 or e-mail me at staylor@eaa.org. We’d love to have your time and talents with us and like I mentioned last week, you’ll have the inside knowledge of the new site before anyone else!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve,
Love the updates. Keep 'em coming.

Any word on the improvements in the area of Papa 1 and Knapp St.? Will the excavated dirt from other areas become fill in the parking areas?

Anonymous said...

Good input! Thanks.
Here is my two cents worth. I have volunteered doing tram operation duty for many years now. The one overwhelming negative complaint we get year after year is the misleading signage regarding tram routes. Never a day goes by that we find multiple individuals standing waiting for say a blue tram in the yellow tram route thinking a blue will arrive. If you read the signs carefully you can figure out that the routes do not overlap, but everybody does not read and think carefully in that environment. They are not happy when they find out that they have waited for twenty minutes for something that will never come. If this was an isolated event one could just ignore it. But this goes on forever and I feel bad for them when I explain the tram facts to them. I don't know how the new tram routes will be laid out but please give serious thought to the tram signage to eliminate misunderstanding. The goal should be to eliminate any possibility of anything that detracts from a perfect day at Airventure.