Thursday, November 12, 2009

A new countdown, a new list

We spent much of the fall planning “what’s next” for AirVenture site improvements and enhancements. While the list isn’t nearly as long or extensive as what you saw for last summer’s event, it’s still pretty significant and you’ll notice it on the grounds in 2010.

One thing I like about this year’s to-do list is that nearly all the projects relate directly to making everyone’s experience at Oshkosh even better. As we go through the winter, I can give more detail on the projects, but let’s just run through the short list of what we’re planning before the end of next July:

Exhibit Hangar C expansion
-- We’re adding 18,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space to the north side of Hangar C
-- Adding indoor restrooms on the east side of Hangar C, which can be accessed from either the exhibit hangar or from outside

North 40 aircraft camping
-- Building a new shower building along the perimeter road, about halfway between North 40 registration and the current shower building. And yes, the new shower building will also have flush toilets!


Camp Scholler
-- Establishing about 250 electrical hook-up campsites in the area currently reserved for 24-hour generator use. Those sites will cost a little more, and a process for reserving them (either a lottery or other method) will be created in the near future.
-- Maintaining no-electricity areas in some of the traditional camping areas, such as Paul’s Woods and the 101 Woods

Roads
-- Expanding the north/south road between Exhibit Hangars B & D and extending it to Kilps Road, just north of Hangars A & C. This will allow a better, more efficient tram loop to be established that will include a stop at the new restrooms.
-- Chip-sealing roads in the Flymarket area, as well as major roads in Camp Scholler and Foundation Road near the Nature Center. This will help reduce the dust created by traffic and dry conditions.


IAC building
-- Constructing a porch addition on the south side of the IAC building to help support the aerobatic group’s forums during AirVenture

Wow. Along with all that, the Warbirds are currently considering several projects and enhancements in their area, too. Combined with the usual maintenance items, that should be enough to fill our lonely hours throughout the winter and spring. We’re eager to get started and show you the next stage of progress – even if over the winter, it means wearing everything we own to stay warm outside.

Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

Kevin O said...

Steve
All excellent ideas, I'm sure you will carry them out with your usual "great" results.
The Bonanza, cessna, and mooney formation groups are all excited about the new showers and bathrooms in the north 40 !
The more hospitable you make the north 40--the longer people will stay--good for our groups and Airventure.
I'll throw out a idea for you guys to mull over---put in a tram that starts at the drop off area behind building A, It would go west behind building C , then goes up the V to the main gate for a pickup/drop off, it then would continue on to a drop off/pickup at the Fly Mart ( will make the vendors happy) then have it continue on behind buildings D and B with a turnaround and pick up at the gate next to the theater in the woods. It would then reverse course all the way back to the main tram drop off behind building A.
At the end of the day, those trams look pretty nice to some of us older guys.
Kevin O

Anonymous said...

I'd really like to see a definitive map of where the electrical areas are going into. I don't need one, but the preliminary map shown at Osh 2008 seemed to show one of the electrical areas where I usually camp. I would hate to lose the "spot" because of higher costs and a lottery system.