MINOT AIR FORCE BASE A major repair project of the runway at Minot Air Force Base will start this year.
The runway repairs are planned for 2012 through 2014, Lt. Col. Matthew Jefson, commander of the base's 5th Civil Engineer Squadron, said this week. He said the anticipated cost of the projects is $70 million
"This will be the first time the runway has had a full-depth repair since the runway was built in the late 1950s. By that, I mean we're going to rip everything out," Jefson told members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee at a meeting at the base earlier this month.
Jefson said the old runway will be replaced "all the way down there to the original North Dakota soil below us."
The construction will be done in three phases overall, he said.
Jefson said this week that three of the projects have been awarded. He said the remaining two projects have bid openings scheduled for early March.
The total value of the repairs to be performed on the airfield this summer is $20 million, Jefson said.
He said the airfield repairs are funded through the Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization Program.
Also, bids for a new dormitory to be built at the base will be opened today, Jefson said.
This will be the fourth new dormitory built at the base in recent years. Congress recently approved $22 million for the construction of the new dormitory. Construction of the new dormitory will start in approximately June or July, Jefson told The Minot Daily News.
