Piles of rubble from the old runway at Offutt Air Force Base, where an 18-month, $198 million runway reconstruction project is underway.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Concrete is piled high from the old runway as crews work on its replacement at Offutt Air Force Base on May 6. Much of the concrete will be used to form a base for the new runway.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Work continues on the Offutt Air Force Base runway project on May 6.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Offutt’s 2-mile runway may look like a flat expanse, but it actually sits on a hill.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Heavy machinery does grading work for the runway. The top layer of concrete will be 19 inches thick in some spots, sturdy enough to support 400-ton jets.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD
Grading work for Offutt Air Force Base's new runway.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD-HERALD
Crushed concrete from the old runway will be mixed with other fill to form a base for the new runway at Offutt Air Force Base.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Work continues on the Offutt Air Force Base runway replacement on May 6.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Work continues on the Offutt Air Force Base runway project on May 6.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Crushed concrete from the old runway, which will be used to form the base of the new runway.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Crews dig up asphalt as Offutt Air Force Base's runway is replaced.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Broken-up concrete is all that remained of Offutt's old 2-mile runway on May 6.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Broken-up concrete is all that remains of Offutt Air Force Base's original paved runway. It was built in 1941 and patched and repaired over the years but never entirely replaced until now.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
What was left of Offutt's old runway on May 6.
CHRIS MACHIAN, WORLD-HERALD
Work continues on the Offutt Air Force Base runway replacement on May 6.
The 8-foot bulge near the north end of Offutt Air Force Base’s single runway was one of the airfield’s quirks, one that has disappeared as part of an 18-month, $198 million reconstruction project that is the most extensive in its long history.
The hump, and a corresponding 8-foot valley toward the south end, were gentle enough that they never posed a threat to pilots, said Lt. Col. Derrick Michaud, director of the 55th Wing Runway Project Management Office.
“Our pilots got used to it," he said, "but now it will be more of a straight shot.â€
For the past five months, a fleet of construction equipment has been swarming over Offutt’s 2-mile runway, chewing it to bits and depositing it into giant piles of rubble.
Much of that concrete will eventually be recycled, mixed with other fill and compacted to form a base for the new runway, said Rob Hufford, chief of construction management for the project.
The new runway must not only absorb a pounding from Offutt’s fleet of RC-135 reconnaissance jets (with a maximum takeoff weight of almost 149 tons) but also its E-4Bs, which are among the Air Force’s heaviest jets (400 tons).
A layer of concrete 19 inches thick will eventually overlay the portions of the runway that bear the heaviest loads, at each end and where it is crossed by taxiways.
Other parts of the runway (the center and shoulders) will be paved with asphalt up to 8 inches thick, on top of 15 inches of red rock, selected for its strength and drainage qualities and hauled in by rail from a quarry in South Dakota.
Offutt’s runway may look like a flat expanse, but it actually sits on a hill. The northwest end (1,049 feet above sea level) is 77 feet higher than the southeast end.
The slope of less than 1 degree is no problem for pilots, Michaud said. But the low end of the runway also sits in the floodplain of the Missouri River, just over a mile away.
Two levees protect the base, but the March 2019 flood exposed the limits of that protection when about one-third of the runway (and 137 structures, including 44 buildings where people worked) were inundated, causing about $800 million worth of damage.
The paved runway still in use was put down in 1941 to accommodate the Glenn L. Martin Bomber Plant, which produced more than 2,000 military aircraft during World War II.
The runway was extended to its current length in the mid-1950s, and a cross runway turned into the current taxiways called Mike North and Mike South. Over the years, the original concrete was patched and repaired but never completely replaced.
By 2015, the runway had deteriorated so badly that it was ranked as the worst of any at the 17 bases operated by the Air Force’s Air Combat Command.
Stories in the World-Herald prompted fears that the 55th Wing — with more than 5,000 military and civilian employees — might be moved to a base with better facilities.
The alarm helped mobilize support for the runway project, which has now reached $198 million. That includes $37 million to remodel and lease temporary space for Offutt’s fleet of more than 30 aircraft at the Lincoln Airport, and $17 million in transportation and lodging costs for about 750 military and civilian employees working in Lincoln during the construction project.
At this stage of construction, workers are relocating the massive web of electrical cables, communication lines, wastewater and drainage pipes that run beneath the runway. All are being buried deeper than they were before.
The Missouri River levees have been repaired since the 2019 flood, but drainage is a major issue during construction because of the high water table.
“When the Missouri is high, the groundwater is high,†Hufford said.
Wells built by California-based contractor Gilbane Federal are pumping 2 million gallons of water per day into Offutt’s Base Lake, just east of the runway.
Concrete is piled high from the old runway as crews work on its replacement at Offutt Air Force Base on May 6. Much of the concrete will be used to form a base for the new runway.
Heavy machinery does grading work for the runway. The top layer of concrete will be 19 inches thick in some spots, sturdy enough to support 400-ton jets.
Broken-up concrete is all that remains of Offutt Air Force Base's original paved runway. It was built in 1941 and patched and repaired over the years but never entirely replaced until now.