Weather has, once again, impacted Seward’s airport. The airport was closed all day and evening on Thursday, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation.
Brenda Ballou of the City of Seward offered details to KSRM: “It was closed, apparently, yesterday [Wednesday], at least for part of the day. We got notified this morning [Thursday] that it’s going to be an additional 24 hours. I think it’s related to the snow and ice maintenance. That seems to be the reason why it’s been being closed so often over the course of this winter.”
Weather has impacted the airport numerous times this year alone, starting on January 2. Ice then forced a closure on January 7, as the ice caused hazardous braking conditions. Again, the airport closed on January 9 due to snowfall impacting the runway with the Department of Transportation saying they would get to the runway as soon as they could.
Ballou believes that the private pilots who use the airport are certainly being impacted, but that there are more urgent concerns afoot, which has prompted the Seward City Council to attempt to take action at their next meeting: “The greater concern, for us right now, is Medevac access if somebody needs to be life-flighted. Coming up on our council agenda on Monday is a resolution asking Governor Dunleavy to direct the Department of Transportation to provide better, more timely maintenance of the airport, the runways.”
The City Council meeting she referred to will be able to be viewed on Monday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. on their YouTube channel or at the council chambers.
