Lea County Regional Airport (Hobbs)

2020

620-foot Drainage Culvert

$1,405,000

The runway safety area (RSA) for Runway 3-21 needed to be expanded to 1,000 feet to meet the Federal Aviation Administration requirement allowing for larger aircraft. This presented a unique challenge as a drainage channel sat just inside the required RSA. To create the 1,000-foot, flat safety buffer, Molzen Corbin designed a 900-foot drainage culvert that was then buried under the RSA. In addition, a drainage pond was designed and constructed; this “extra” dirt was used as the infill to bury the drainage culvert. This RSA upgrade allows larger planes to use Runway 3-21, increasing maximum plane capacity from 50 to 75 passengers for regional daily flights.

Airport Engineering, Drainage