More than 300,000 cubic yards of material have been removed from the safety overrun area at Yeager Airport that collapsed last March, but another 200,000 cubic yards still need to be hauled away before work can begin on rebuilding the safety feature and reopening a portion of Keystone Drive that remains covered by the landslide.
"The job is currently shut down for the winter," said Terry Sayre, Yeager's executive director. "We anticipate getting back at it in March or April, depending on the weather."
When earthmoving crews resume their work on the slide in spring, they will be operating about 240 feet below runway elevation.
The final phase of landslide removal is expected to cost about $200,000 to design and engineer, followed by about $900,000 in earthmoving expenses. How the airport will pay for the work before insurance settlements are completed and lawsuits are adjudicated remains to be seen.
Sayre said he is hopeful that the state Division of Highways will accept a project work order already authorized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that would cover the cost of the DOH removing 100,000 cubic yards of the remaining slide debris covering Keystone Drive and its right-of-way.
"This alone would save us some substantial funds even if we match that FEMA grant 25 percent, which we have offered to do," Sayre said.
In January, the Charleston airport received a $318,615 disaster relief check from FEMA to help recover from the slide, That check could be applied toward the final earthmoving bill, Sayre said.
Once the safety overrun area is restored to its original elevation, the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to pay for the installation of a new EMAS (engineered materials arresting system) zone at the western end of Yeager's main runway, since its previous EMAS bed had been approved for replacement.
Yeager's first EMAS system was installed in the safety overrun area in 2008 at a cost of about $5 million. Less than two years later, it was credited with bringing a regional jet carrying 34 people at a speed of about 65 miles per hour to a safe stop during an aborted takeoff attempt.
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