Unalaska, AK – Representatives from the Alaska Department of Transportation hosted a public presentation and scoping meeting Thursday about improving the airport's runway. The project would add about 200 feet to each end of the runway. Alaska Department of Transportation project manager Wolfgang Junge said most of that area is for safety.

"Just like you would have a shoulder on a road that you would drive on and you have a certain amount of distance there so if your car wandered out of the normal way you would be safe still. The runway safety areas are the same at the airport, where if you have icy conditions or poor weather conditions, you have a bit of a buffer zone there so the pilots who are operating the aircraft can stay on a safe surface and not inadvertently end up in the water."

The other 100 feet will make the actual runway longer, which would make it possible for the current PenAir Saabs to take off and land with more weight.

"Right now about 30 percent of the time, PenAir can't carry full fuel, all the people, and all their bags and still make it back to Anchorage," he said. "What this will allow PenAir to do is operate at full capacity so the bags won't get left behind and they'll be able to fly all the way to Anchorage with everybody and their bags."

It would also make it possible for larger airplanes to come here. But Junge said that may not actually be what community members want in the long run. If planes with more than 30 passengers land here, then we'll have to have airport security here as well.

To make the runway longer and move the current road to the new end of the runway, the DOT will fill in the ocean with gravel and rock quarried here on the island. After the rocks settle for about a year to a year and a half, then they can lengthen the runway and repave the entire area. The entire project will cost between $30 and $35 million. Ninety-five percent of the money will come from the Federal Aviation Administration, but in order for the Alaska DOT to use that money, they have to finish the project by 2015.

Junge is currently in town to collect comments on the project from the public during the official scoping phase.

"We don't know about subsistence areas, we don't know particularly about local traffic patterns," and we need to, he said. "We're talking about a lot of loads of dump trucks coming in and out of those quarries and if you live in a neighborhood where you think that might be an issue for you, it's good for us to know about that so we can come up with plans to address that."

They will incorporate the community's comments and comments from various government agencies into an environmental assessment. Junge said they do not think they will have to do a full Environmental Impact Statement even though the project will have minimal effects on sea otter habitat and areas of national historic significance. They have already met with officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who did not see the project as a problem.

This airport improvement project will not require the runway safety area to be widened, so no buildings will be affected. Previous plans could have required the airport terminal and World War II Visitor Center to be moved.

Junge said this is the first time the Unalaska airport improvement project has made it to the scoping phase, and the federal funding deadline makes it more likely the project will be completed by 2015.

Comments can be submitted to DOT by mail, phone, and email until May 26.