MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Defense Policy Review Initiative Integrated Program Management Office is planning to bring about big construction changes to the station in the following months.
“Our mission is to make sure we have the infrastructure and the facilities in place to accommodate the station’s change in size,” said Myke Payne, DPRI IPMO interdisciplinary engineer.
One of the big upcoming changes for DPRI is the sectioning off of part of the station for contractors and construction. A bypass road is planned to be implemented Feb. 1 for the north gate.
A director will be present to guide residents to the road which will temporarily bring people to the north gate.
Construction is being conducted to prepare the movement of the north gate closer into the station to make way for the contractor’s road.
“We’re soon going to have a construction only area, and we want to get the word out as to what that’s going to be and some of the resulting changes,” said Payne. “It’s really going to affect traffic and change how residents get to the airfield from north side.”
As residents come up from the overpass heading north, there’s going to be a temporary road which will cut around construction and guide residents to north side. This road is scheduled to be completed and in use March 3. There will be signs in place for the temporary road.
March 3 is also scheduled to mark the closing of Zbella Street.
“DPRI is entering a new construction phase,” said Payne. “A lot of new projects are going to start breaking ground in the air field. To make sure those projects get done in a timely manner, we’re making that area construction only.”
The contractor’s fence dividing north side’s main road is scheduled to be completed March 12. Once completed, the fence will separate a piece of the station, from the main gate entrance to the air field, for contractors use only.
“This construction zone has been in the works for quite a while,” said Payne. “It has been put together very well to make sure we aren’t compromising anyone’s safety or security by doing this.”
The design of the contractor’s fence requires contractors to pass all regulated inspections if they wish to drive onto the actual station not using the contractor’s gate.
“The exclusion zone is going to reduce a lot of traffic on the station, but not all of it,” said Payne. “The number of dump trucks used to move soil has been increased, and they still use some of the main roads. We want to make sure people pay attention to all these trucks. Safety is still our main concern. We’ve done what we can to keep people safe.”
More DPRI construction projects are slated to be announced in the coming months.