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Pittsfield Airport Project 'Substantially Complete'

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Airport officials can see the light at the end of the runway.

Airport Manager Mark Germanowski is calling the massive $22.5 million runway safety project "substantially complete" with loose ends being tied early next year.

Currently, the airport is quickly approaching a "winter shut down" of work and will return in the spring to finalize the undertaking. For the last month, the number of workers have dwindled from its peak of 40 to just a "skeletal crew."

"For all intents and purposes, we're all built out," Germanowski said on Monday while looking over the project.

The second phase focused on excavating and moving more than a million cubic yards of earth through the summer to create a longer runway and 1,000-foot buffers at either end. On the Barker Road side, 652 feet of runway was dug up to create the buffer there. On the South Mountain Road side, the 652 feet plus an additional 790 feet of runway way constructed and a buffer built.

Business leaders and officials have frequently touted the airport reconstruction as a significant investment in the local economy, but Germanowski said the project has a more important aspect.

"It was all about safety and people forget that," he said. "We didn't do this for economic development."

South Mountain Road was rebuilt to circumnavigate the new area. Airport officials are just awaiting perimeter fencing before that road reopens. (Update: The road was scheduled to open on Thursday, Dec. 19.)

When the ground freezes, the poles for obstruction lights on the South Mountain Road side, which mark trees on the sides of the runway, will be placed into the ground. When work begins in the spring, the electrical infrastructure for those will be installed.

Germanowski said he doesn't have the final costs but so far everything has been "on budget" and "on time." Workers did lose a total of three weeks of time because of rain during this summer, he said.

The first $7 million phase added about 100 feet to each side of the runway. The second phase, which was $14 million, covered the majority of the work. Weather delayed the first phase but workers picked up time by working through the winter.

"About every fourth day we got rain," Germanowski said.

However, the project did not come without complaints from the neighbors. During construction, neighbors complained of loud noises from the blasting of rocks, dust flying in the air, roads covered in clay, the days and hours of construction, and water runoff.

Germanowski acknowledged that there can be negative effects during the construction of such a large project but said it complied with all of the permits.

The project, which was first pursued in 1998, is being paid for by $13.5 million in state Department of Transportation funds, $6 million in Federal Aviation Administration funds and $3 million from the city. The FAA also contributed $4 million previously for land acquisition.

Pittsfield Celebrates Robert 'Bob' Presutti on Arbor Day

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:33PM / Friday, April 26, 2024

Bob Presutti, right, is presented the Hebert Award in 2017 for his volunteer efforts at Springside Park. He died in 2023 at age 88.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A tree has been planted next to the Berkshire Athenaeum in honor of local "giant" Robert Presutti.

Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.

"Today is a day where we yes, celebrate trees, but today is also a day where here in the city we intentionally try to acknowledge the good work of folks in our community who spend their time and their efforts and their talents to make Pittsfield a more beautiful place," he said to a crowd of about 20 people.

"Today we are honoring a longtime community volunteer named Bob Presutti. I'm sure a lot of you here know Bob and know his contributions to the city, not only when it comes to trees and parks but also to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program."

The longtime volunteer passed away last year at the age of 88. He contributed more than 10,600 hours to RSVP and had great impacts on the Parks Department over the years from sharing his knowledge and talents to ensuring that workers were safe when working on trees.

"This morning I went through my emails to see how many emails Bob Presutti sent me since the year 2001 when I started with the city. Bob Presutti sent me 14,000 emails and nearly every single one of those was about trees," McGrath said, prompting laughter and smiles from attendees.

One thread struck him as particularly important because it showed Presutti's empathy when it comes to the safety of city workers while caring for trees.

"There were multiple emails from Bob about the need to get the Parks Department maintenance guys into a program learning about chainsaw safety and learning about ladder safety. He was really into making certain that our city workers were well cared for and had all of the instruction that they needed and in fact, he even offered his own time and services after he became certified to teach our city workers," McGrath said.