Published: May 17, 2006 02:29 pm      

EOC aerospace industry kicks into full gear Tuesday

Question: Why did the plane cross Douglas Boulevard?

Answer: To get to the Oklahoma Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Technology Center on the other side.



On Tuesday, officials broke ground at the 370-acre site of the MROTC facility at SE 59th and Douglas Boulevard in Oklahoma City.

The groundbreaking ceremony, according to MWC Economic Development Director David Burnett, was a “historical watershed moment in the economy of Oklahoma and Eastern Oklahoma County.”

The center is part of the “big picture” that Burnett’s AeroEOC program, which has a mission to recruit MRO and Aerospace assets to Eastern Oklahoma County, especially in and around Tinker Air Force Base and its Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center.

In Nov. 2006, phase one of the center, including the towway across Douglas and Boeing hangar, is expected to be complete and the first plane will cross Douglas for maintenance.

According to Chip Carter, vice president of Trammell Crow Company, two to three times a month in the early morning hours, traffic will come to a stop to allow the planes to cross.

While the massive jet engines cross, tall fences will be rolled out and police officers will re-direct traffic. Just like anything new, Carter said in the beginning Douglas will be shut down for more than the target time of 15 minutes. That is at least until the workers learn the process and grow more efficient, he said.

The second phase of the MROTC project is slated to be be complete in August 2008, including two additional hangars.

Overall, the MROTC is planned as a major military and commercial aircraft facility with 17 hangars and more than one million square feet of related industrial space and education and training facilities.

The MROTC is designed to assist TAFB by allowing Tinker the potential to lease hangars for some of its current maintenance work, relieving congestion and freeing space on base for new work, and to foster partnering opportunities between industry and the government.

The full economic impact of Boeing’s contract at the MROTC is still evolving as Boeing and TAFB finish working out contract details, however projections are between 275 and 325 new jobs.