The heavy equipment that helps keep the Casper/Natrona County International Airport running has a new home.
The NCIA held an open house and dedication for a new 27,000 sq ft maintenance building on Thursday afternoon. The state-of-the-art structure will centralize operations that had been spread over several WWII-era buildings. It is designed to be expanded up to 75,000 sq ft in future phases.
The building was built in about a year with $5.4 million from state and FAA funds.
Complex specialized equipment such as runway snow plows and sweepers can now be stored inside a climate controlled environment. The building is near the runways, eliminating the need to drive runway equipment a half mile through public roads during snow events.
The building also has a full kitchen and bunk room for employees to use during prolonged snow events, helping keep the runways clear at all times.
