The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Expecting “substantial completion” by end of October
[ By Katherine Nettles ]
Contractors are still scrambling to complete the final touches on a major renovation to the Gunnison-Crested Butte Airport (GUC) which was originally scheduled to be finished by the end of 2021 and is now on target for getting wrapped up at the end of 2022—with some final details carrying into next year. The continuation of supply chain delays, workforce shortages and unexpected construction setbacks related to renovating an existing structure has run the clock out more than a year longer than anticipated and added about $2.5 million in costs. But federal funding has covered the increased costs and the airport has managed to continue—and even increase—service while forging ahead with the remodel of up to 90% of the existing structure.
Assistant county manager for Operations and Sustainability John Cattles provided a run-down of the remaining items to be addressed. The result is already apparent in a more modern, energy efficient and versatile building even as most rooms and areas have a number of items yet to be complete.
“The progress is going. It is the ongoing supply chain and labor issues causing delays. But we are looking at having substantial completion by the end of the month,” says Cattles.
What will take longer includes some of the details not easily noticeable to the general public. “Back of the house things will still be ongoing, like some of the more complex mechanical systems that we have to put together and test,” says Cattles.
But other things such as interior finishes are coming together by the day, and work such as paving the parking lot and surrounding area is scheduled for completion this week.
“We have been waiting on asphalt for quite some time, so we haven’t been able to get the road paved,” says Cattles of the roadway leading from the entrance to passenger drop off and pick up, and through the airport exit. “That happening on Wednesday will allow us to open up the second half of the parking lot and remove some constraints,” he says. The parking system will go from the former manual payment system to one with automated gates and tickets, and a payment system at the exit as found in most modern airport parking lots.
“We’ve completely changed the traffic pattern from approaching the airport, how you park your vehicle, adding covered areas to drop off passengers, and then once inside the whole traffic flow is much simpler…that’s the biggest takeaway for me. Even though we’ve kept so much in place, it’s fundamentally a different airport. It will operate as a different airport, and it will change people’s experience,” says Cattles.
The building is operating as designed to during the renovations, with work being scheduled around regularly occurring airline passenger traffic. Passenger ticketing and holding areas transform daily from Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) compliant spaces, with furniture and ample signage and barricades in place, to active construction zones complete with lumber piles, power tools and ladders. Cattles says the escalators will be operational in time for skier traffic, “but also hopefully by the end of the month.”
The bar and café area are still being finished, and a fireplace is yet to be installed, but the passenger holding areas are otherwise functional.
The art is a major component of the finishing touches, and three artists have been commissioned to create homage to the mountain landscapes of the Gunnison Valley. A block print mural and a three-dimensional topographic map will be located inside the building and a painted mural is being completed on the exterior.
“The art is going really well. We installed a topographic piece on the big feature wall,” says Cattles, which connects the first and second floors facing the stairwell and escalators.
Two UV resistant, color-saturated murals outside the building face incoming flights, to soften up the mechanical side of the building where the jet bridges and other technical apparatus live. “We have more ground boarding than many larger airports, so we wanted to incorporate art there as well,” says Cattles.
A third installation will come from John Fellows, a Crested Butte artist who specializes in contemporary folk block prints. This is expected to take another few months, as it is more intensive work, says Cattles. “But it already looks great; we’re really excited about that piece.”
Cattles acknowledges that there are still many details to finish. “But the big picture is we’ve made it much better for people…and we are now poised for the growth that we’re seeing already.”
GUC airport manager Rick Lamport likens the lengthy renovation project to replacing multiple parts of a vehicle while also driving it. But he sees a light at the end of the tunnel, and timing that has aligned well with growth.
Increased air traffic and service
That growth is indeed already happening, as evident through additional flights on United, the new boutique JSX service that started last summer and through other measurements such as general aviation numbers and gallons of jet fuel sold.
Lamport describes how GUC is accommodating JSX. “It is a unique airline. They operate in a particular way that commercial operators do not in that they carry 30 passengers or fewer, so they don’t need security and they don’t use our jet bridges. Because of the traffic flow and space we’ve created, it hasn’t been an issue to give them the space to operate.”
JSX’s operations will be moved to the eastern side of the airport near the baggage claim, and its enplanements will take place there as well. Lamport says the relatively new operation has been working well, “and we have a space that is a lot more adaptable.” JSX does not have any physical infrastructure to install. “We give them Wi-Fi and a space to set up a gate agent. That’s really all we have to provide for them,” he says.
Other indicators of a busier operation are fuel sales. Even with fuel costs up this year, more gallons are being sold. According to Lamport, GUC had sold 750,501 gallons of jet fuel as of the end of September this year, compared with 676,529 gallons last year during the same period and 547,596 gallons in 2019 (2020 was not included due to pandemic inconsistencies). The total flight operations, which include commercial, private and training flights, have increased or remained flat year over year since 2019.
“It’s been surprising,” says Cattles of the growth. “I think our timing is very fortunate to be making these renovations to our airport.” Cattles says that while the various delays and several change orders and other contingencies have occurred over the past two years, bringing the costs from $24 million to about $26.4 million, the costs have been covered entirely by additional federal funding from what was authorized initially. “We didn’t expect it, but it was very welcome,” he says.
“The county’s investment hasn’t changed,” he noted, which was mostly used for the early phases of planning.
A grand opening is planned for early December.
