This article was originally published in the Winter 2011 edition of Briefings
During the first of what is planned to be an ongoing feature in the fall forum, two airports were invited to tell the story of how they began, overcame challenges, and grew into the airports they are today.
Alexandria Municipal Airport
Todd Roth, Alexandria’s airport manager, and Lyle Kratzke, a consultant with TKDA, began with the story of Alexandria Municipal Airport. Alexandria’s first airport was built in 1928 in response to Northwest Airline’s request for a landing site. The site was relocated in 1931 when a NE-SW 2000’ x 300’ runway and a NW-SE 1800’ x 300’ runway with a standard 100’ circle at the junction wer built. Lights and radio abilities were installed and the field’s status was changed from an emergency field to full-time operation in 1934. In 1942, the Alexandria airport was awarded a $950,000 makeover by the Civil Aeronautics Authority for national defense purposes. Through the War Powers Act, 535 acres were confiscated. The federal government paved the runways and the airport was used as a refueling and emergency base for bombers.
The first building on site was the arrival-departure building, constructed in 1946. In 1975, a master plan was developed and the airport continued to expand. A major planning study conducted in 2003 paved the way for the most recent development. The airport, named Chandler Field in 1978, now has two paved runways and more than 50 based aircraft. It conducts 25,500 operations annually.
Albert Lea Municipal Airport
Airport manager Jim Hanson and Mead and Hunt consultant Matt Wagner shared the history of Albert Lea Municipal Airport. The airport was originally constructed as a civilian pilot training facility during World War II, as the old airfield didn’t meet specifications. Originally, it was a grass “all-way landing field”; the first paved 3,800’ runway was constructed in 1955, and the plan was to eventually use that runway as a taxiway. The runway was lengthened to 4,500’ in i1970.
In 2003, Mead and Hunt completed a master plan, whichwas followed by an environmental assessment and engineering design. Construction of a new runway began in 2008 with the adjacent Plaza Street Road Relocation, which moved the roadway out of the future runway safety area and obstable-free zone. This also provided for onsite mitigation of wetlands. Relocated Runway 16/34 was in full construction mode last summer and is set to open in the spring of 2011. Hanson noted that the first airplane to take off from the original runway in 1955 was also the first to take off from the new runway last year.
The Albert Lea airport has more than 26,000 operations each year and 40 based aircraft.
