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Keokuk airport fence project begins
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| Concrete is poured into a fence post hole at the Keokuk Municipal Airport-Lindner Field. With financial help from the federal government, five miles of perimeter fencing is being installed at the airport. The eight-foot-high fence will have a two-foot skirt below ground and three strands of barb wire on top to keep deer and other wildlife away from the runways. The project’s completion date is May 2008. |
By Steve Dunn/Gate City Managing Editor
A $868,411 wildlife perimeter fencing project has started at Keokuk Municipal Airport/Lindner Field.
Five miles of eight-foot-high fencing will be installed by May 2008, according to airport manager Greg Gobble. The fencing will have two-foot skirting below ground and three strands of barbed wire on top to help keep wildlife away from the runways and planes.
D&N Fence Co. of Cedar Rapids is the general contractor for the project partially financed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Four “pretty minor” strikes involving planes and deer have been reported at the Keokuk airport, Gobble said. None of the incidents involved injuries to humans. However, the FAA has reports of mishaps with wildlife that have involved millions of dollars of damage and serious injuries to humans, he added.
An accident involving wildlife at the Fort Madison airport involved more than $50,000 of damage, Gobble said.
The jets that use the Keokuk airport land at speeds of 100 or more miles per hour. Lighter aircraft land at speeds in the range of 50 to 60 miles per hour.
“The FAA saw an imminent need to install the fence, and we took that need to Congress,” Gobble explained.
City officials lobbied federal officials for three years to get the funding for the fencing. U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin, U.S. Reps. Leonard Boswell and Dave Loebsack, and former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach were involved in the discussions.
Other pending work at the airport includes a $144,143 T-hangar reconstruction project. The general contractor for the latter work is Keokuk Contractors, Inc. of Keokuk.
Five miles of eight-foot-high fencing will be installed by May 2008, according to airport manager Greg Gobble. The fencing will have two-foot skirting below ground and three strands of barbed wire on top to help keep wildlife away from the runways and planes.
D&N Fence Co. of Cedar Rapids is the general contractor for the project partially financed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Four “pretty minor” strikes involving planes and deer have been reported at the Keokuk airport, Gobble said. None of the incidents involved injuries to humans. However, the FAA has reports of mishaps with wildlife that have involved millions of dollars of damage and serious injuries to humans, he added.
An accident involving wildlife at the Fort Madison airport involved more than $50,000 of damage, Gobble said.
The jets that use the Keokuk airport land at speeds of 100 or more miles per hour. Lighter aircraft land at speeds in the range of 50 to 60 miles per hour.
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City officials lobbied federal officials for three years to get the funding for the fencing. U.S. Sens. Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin, U.S. Reps. Leonard Boswell and Dave Loebsack, and former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach were involved in the discussions.
Other pending work at the airport includes a $144,143 T-hangar reconstruction project. The general contractor for the latter work is Keokuk Contractors, Inc. of Keokuk.
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