Settling In for Winter

Nothing lets you know that summer is definitely over than the first snowfall of the season. Oshkosh got that message loud and clear last Wednesday, as about 3 inches of heavy, wet snow hit the area. Thankfully, prior to then we were blessed with great weather these last few months that resulted in an extended growing season to help expedite ground repairs.

Crews stayed busy making their usual clean-up and repair work, most notably filling in and smoothing over ruts left in Camp Scholler. They have also worked with airport personnel to replant grass along the turf taxiway next to Runway 9/27, and also reseeded the area damaged by the F-16 overrun at the north end of Runway 18/36.

Now the big question, what's in store for 2012? No surprise, our focal point will be addressing the mud and dust in Camp Scholler. We are working with county officials and engineers to create additional hard-surface roadways known as a cobblestone method, which is a gravel mixture that allows water to penetrate and flow through. Main east/west roads will be addressed as will select north/south roads, noted in yellow on the map below.


When any hard surface is put in place, you must account for where any storm water runoff goes. We are in the process of running filter tests of the cobblestone with officials with the goal of finding an approved storm water treatment that will benefit all.

In other site-related news:

EAA staff also is working with state, county and local officials to discuss AirVenture traffic flow in 2012, especially with the Highway 41 project continuing and the closure of the Highways 41/21 interchange. Highway 21 traffic will be routed to Highway 44 (South Park Ave.) on the detour, which will cause changes in traffic flow to the AirVenture grounds.

Among the solutions will be utilizing the Highways 26/41 interchange more extensively to ease congestion. That would mean more traffic, especially outflow, would be using Poberezny Road south of Camp Scholler. Anyone who has traveled that stretch can attest that road isn't in the best of shape.

Discussions have begun between EAA, the State of Wisconsin, City of Oshkosh, and Town of Nekimi on improvements and resurfacing the stretch from Waukau Avenue to its intersection with County Highway N near the Highway 41/26 interchange. EAA has been mentioning the deteriorating condition of Poberezny Road, especially between Ripple Road and County N, for several years to local and state officials. If an agreement is reached, the project could take place as early as next spring.

Also, U.S. Cellular is trenching from west of Highway 41 to the AirVenture grounds and installing more fiber connections to the cell phone towers here, to improve that carrier's service at AirVenture. We will keep you posted on any other updates wireless carriers may make.

That's it for now. If any updates of note arise over the winter months, I'll be sure to keep you posted. We're less than 250 days until AirVenture 2012!

Blue skies ... and stay warm!