Gate 19B, off National Road to Wright-Patterson’s Area B, will be closed for a two-phase construction project starting Monday to Sept. 29, except for morning inbound traffic.
Those driving on to the base from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday may still use the gate. Those leaving the base should use another gate, gate 1B, leading to Springfield Street in Riverside.
Work starts Monday, said Scott Kopittke, branch chief of project management for the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright Patterson.
“It will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. throughout the duration of the project, for incoming traffic only,” Kopittke said in an interview.
The project aims to add safety features to the area around the gate. It will also add directional signage to help the flow of traffic through the gate and it will also replace the final “denial barriers” that can stop motorists who aren’t permitted on the installation.
The current denial barriers are at the end of their service lives and will be replaced by “modern pieces of equipment,” he said.
A denial barrier can be activated to pop up should a driver attempt to drive past security personnel at the gate without authorization. A button within the guard shack activates the barrier, raising the physical barrier.
“It would deter them by running into it or it would deter them by seeing something that they do not want to run into,” Kopittke said.
Traffic at base gates has increased since President Trump signed executive orders earlier this year returning military and federal workers to workplaces.
With about 38,000 employees, Wright-Patterson’s working population has doubled in the past two decades, making the base the biggest concentration of employment in a single location in the state of Ohio.
Base security personnel at gates deal with 325 to 375 vehicles per hour, the base said on a website FAQ.
“We anticipated an increase in traffic following the return-to-work executive order and took steps to facilitate the flow through our gates and entry control points,” Col. Sean Brazel, 88th Mission Support Group commander, said in response to questions from the Dayton Daily News in March. “Currently, we estimate several thousand additional vehicles are entering Wright Patterson Air Force Base each day.”
But after 9 a.m., traffic into the base tends to lessen considerably.
About the Author
