DOT installs railway gates near airport
Friday, October 03 2008
Unalaska, AK – The state's Department of Transportation is currently installing the new airport crossing guards, which are aimed to prevent airplane-vehicle collisions. The underground work should be finished by the weekend and project manager Shawn Combs said the railroad-style gates should be installed by mid-October and ready for use.
"They are triggered by an aircraft pilot. They come in and activate the lights. Essentially the warning lights go off for 15 seconds and then the entrance gates you have two gates at each location, one's an entrance the other's an exit so you're entrance gate comes down and shuts off any traffic that can come into the hazard zone."
Combs said it's still undecided how long cars will have to exit the roadway after the entrance gates go down. The state and the Federal Aviation Administration are also still negotiating how long the gates will be down and blocking the roadway near the airport. It could be anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.