A strange, almost lunar landscape is gradually growing beside the parking area next to the small gravel airstrip on Matinicus Island, as pile after pile of gray stone is delivered to the site by three dumps trucks. Gathering enough material to resurface an airstrip takes quite a while, here where the wharf is only accessible over the higher portion of the tide cycle, and the round-trip from Rockland takes about five hours, making only one delivery a day possible. Again and again the Island Transporter, based in Rockland, brings the three dumps trucks; soon work can begin on our much-anticipated new airstrip surface.
Assessor (a position similar to selectman) Clayton Philbrook of Matinicus Isle Plantation describes the current project: “We are having the sides ditched to promote drainage down the hill and away from the runway. A culvert is being installed on the upper end to divert water across the access road. Fill is being added to the low spots on the upper and lower ends and a new surface is being installed. The surface will be what is called ‘crusher dust’ which is basically a very coarse sand—nothing larger than 3/8ths inch stone. This will be compacted with a vibratory roller. The airstrip is 30 feet wide, but will be made wider at both ends for turning planes around. Emergency lighting will be a radio controlled set of solar lights that will be placed just off the runway surface to allow for plowing. The sides of the runway out to the tree line will be leveled to allow for mowing.”
Philbrook explains that roughly 950 yards of additional gravel will be required to fill low areas and 670 yards of surface material will be spread over the 1700-foot runway. 75 yards of spare surface material will be stockpiled on the island for future patching. “They are getting just over 50 yards per Island Transporter trip, but some of the surface material may come out by barge after the actual work starts.” With over 1600 yards of material required, at 50 yards per trip, that’s a lot of Transporter trips! As is normal for Matinicus—and for all islands—the cost of transportation makes up a huge portion of any construction project.
A date for the start of work is not firm but Island Transporter Captain David Whitney said that he expected to deliver a bulldozer to the island on Monday, September 17. Once equipment is on site, work should be able to begin.
According to Kevin Waters of Penobscot Island Air, “The improvement is designed to make Caravan or Twin Islander service possible, expanding our options for aircraft. From a safety perspective, it will help everybody. Visibility will be better, turning around at the ends of the strip will be safer, you won’t be kicking up rocks—the new surface will be less abusive to the equipment, the propellers, etc.”
Waters also explained how necessary air service will be impacted once actual construction begins. “We just need to talk throughout the project, keep the communications open. That’s in the contract. They aren’t supposed to shut down the airstrip for more than three consecutive days at any point, and hopefully they’d be able to do that kind of work at least partially in the fog (we hope!) There will be some days we only fly the 206’s (the smaller Cessnas in the PIA fleet,) but it shouldn’t put anybody in a bind too long.”
The earthworks contractor for the project is Jake Barbour, Inc. of Owls Head, and original engineering was handled by the civil engineering firm of Gartley & Dorsky in Camden, and in particular, engineer Bill Lane. Currently the consulting engineer is Dave Bess of Asphalt Pavement Technologies. Both Philbrook and Waters expressed sincere appreciation for the efforts of Catherine Rand, Project Manager in the Maine Department of Transportation’s Multimodal Office, “without whose support, advice, encouragement and knowledge,” said Philbrook, “this project probably wouldn’t have gotten to this stage.” This improvement effort has been in the works in one form or another for many years, and has seen several false starts, changes to the plan, and financial roadblocks. Meanwhile, air service has continued uninterrupted as the mud holes get bigger each winter and the strip becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.
With very infrequent state ferry service (32 trips per year), a seasonal passenger vessel, no store, no clinic, and no daily “mail boat” service, Matinicus residents depend upon the air service for mail, groceries, prescriptions and other health care services, essential repair parts, and routine transportation. All flights are, of course, weather permitting.
Some people do ask why it is necessary to import all this stone when the island roads were built decades ago using local gravel. There are no large, active gravel pits remaining on Matinicus Island.
Eva Murray is a freelance contributor living on Matinicus.