Anyone traveling on Sage Avenue knows something big is going on at Page Municipal Airport. During working hours, bright yellow heavy construction vehicles are scooping and moving dirt around the perimeter of the runway. 

The fence lines are moving outward on the east side, eliminating the uppermost trail frequented by joggers, hikers and bicyclists. At the south end of the airport, where Rimview Trail hikers usually park their vehicles, are piles of fine gravel and stacks of large, black drainage pipes. There’s a loading station to transfer piles dirt and gravel to large trucks for distribution. All this is to make the airport more jet friendly.

The Chronicle spoke with Page Public Works Director Kyle Christiansen to find out what’s going on.

“That’s for aircraft improvement safety area,” said Christiansen. “Some of the jets we get, they have to taxi down the runway because the wingtips will hit the weeds in hillside. So we’re doing some grading in there.  And then the larger project, that’s tied in with the storm drain, is the runway safety area grading. So we’re extending the displaced threshold on each end of the runway. And so they’re actually working on the north end of the runway right now. And then they’re doing grade work on the south end. The south end gets an extension where they're piling up the dirt. So they’re going to extend the dirt grade of the runway out so that the aircraft have someplace longer to go if they overrun their landings or takeoffs.”

And the big black pipes?

“One of the issues we have is stormwater coming from the neighborhood into the airport,” said Christiansen. “So that’s what the big black pipe is. We’re actually installing a new storm drain.”

Christiansen said a lot of people have asked if the airport expansion is going to interfere with Rimview Trail. 

“Actually, no, it's not,” he said. “And I know it's weird if you go onto Google Earth and actually look at what Google Earth says the Rim Trail is. That’s actually not the Rim Trail. The actual Rim trail is on the rim. So it’s kind of misrepresented on Google. But we’re not blocking the Rim trail. We’re not blocking access to the Rim trail, the actual proper Rim trail, if you will.”

The trail that runs along the airport’s eastern fence isn’t part of Rimview Trail but an old exterior fence service road. The trail designated as Rimview Trail by the City of Page is roughly 100-1,500 feet below the airport’s fence line, depending on the stretch of trail.

There are a lot of trails crisscrossing and running parallel to the main trail. They’ve been traveled on by foot, dirt bikes and ATVs over the years. Director of Community Engagement Lynn Cormier said her department calls them “snail trails.”

One of Rimview Trail’s access points will be moved about 600 feet south.

“We've kept all of the signs, and there was kind of that threefold sign that was there,” said Cormier. “All of that is still intact. We’re just going to have to find a nice location to put that so people know, and then we’ll regrade a little parking area.”

Like Christiansen, Cormier is getting questions about the trail. 

“I've had a lot of people calling in asking and yeah, I'm just trying to reassure them that the access point is not going away, it’s just going to be moved down a bit,” she said.

Christiansen estimate the trail access point part of the project will be completed in “roughly 45 working days out.” Cormier said that once the area is completed, her department will evaluate and reinstall access point signs and equipment. Between weather and seasonal events, it will likely be after the holidays before a crew can restore the access point.  Meanwhile, hikers and bikers can easily park and access the trail at the end of Sage Avenue, less than 500 yards south.