UCRA To Close Runways Temporarily For September Striping Project

Upper Cumberland Regional Airport will close its runways for the upcoming striping project this September.

Airport Manager Dean Selby said that the project will include resealing, coating, and striping the taxiways, ramps, and runways.

“It’s a pretty intensive project, a lot of paint and a lot of asphalt sealer,” Selby said. “And it’s going to require at least a few days of runway closure while they strip all the old paint off and seal off and redo it all. We’re really grateful that the state is taking over the responsibility of this and covering the cost so there will be no cost to the local taxpayer or to the airport.”

Selby said that the project is slated for this September 4th through 17th. He said that runway closures will have a slight impact on the airport, as they have will have to relocate some of their aircraft to the surrounding airports temporarily.

Selby said that the airport is lucky T-DOT decided to perform and pay for the project as it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said that this process is something that they have to go through every four or five years.

“All it does is keep the asphalt from deteriorating so instead of having a 10-year life expectancy on asphalt you can make asphalt last up to 20, 25 years, by doing this repetitively,” Selby said. “Every time it’s needed you can extend the life exponentially for a whole lot less cost than ripping it up and repaving it.”