Overview
Situated in the San Francisco Bay Area and known as the "Gateway to the Pacific", Travis Air Force Base handles more cargo ( including the atomic bomb used on Japan to end World War 2) and passenger traffic through its airport than any other military air terminal in the United States. The base has a long and proud history of supporting humanitarian airlift operations at home and around the world. Today, Travis AFB includes approximately 7,260 active USAF military personnel, 4,250 Air Force Reserve personnel and 3,770 civilians.
Travis AFB has a major impact on the community as a number of military families and retirees have chosen to make Fairfield their permanent home. Travis AFB is the largest employer in the City and Solano County as well, and the massive Travis workforce has a local economic impact of more than $1 billion annually. The Base also contributes a large number of highly skilled people to the local labor pool.
The demolition and reconstruction of Runway 21L-03R, as well as the construction of a new C-17 Assault Landing Zone, began on February 4, 2010 with completion expected sometime late in the fall of 2012. Baldi Bros Inc. of Beaumont, California is listed as the "Prime Contractor" on the project, with Government oversight of construction and contract administration being performed by a group of both USAF and USN (ROICC Travis) civilian and military construction specialists. The project specifications state that work at the 21L-03R location will include the "rehabilitation of Runway 21L-03R, including removal of the existing pavement (11,000 feet by 300 feet), construction of new runway pavement (11,000 feet by 150 feet), shoulders with drainage improvements, airfield lighting and signage, navigational aid relocation, new approach lighting system, and incidental related work". The C-17 / ALZ project specifications indicate that construction will consist of "construction of a new C-17 Assault Landing Zone facility on the south side of Runway 21L-03R at the 21L threshold end of the runway and incidental related work".
In addition, the base's former Strategic Air Command Alert Facility is now a U.S. Navy complex that typically supports 2 transient Navy E-6B Mercury TACAMO aircraft assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron THREE (VQ-3) Detachment and normally home-based at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
The base is also host to David Grant USAF Medical Center, a 265-bed, $200 million Air Force teaching hospital, which serves both in-service and retired military personnel.
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