Boniface Gate to close to inbound traffic until July 18

  • Published
  • By Staff Report
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The inbound lanes of Boniface Gate on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will be closed from June 1 until July 18, JBER officials said, as workers improve the pop-up barriers at the gate.

The closure is not due to the recent increase in the force protection condition.

The pop-up barriers, designed to stop runaway or unauthorized vehicles, have actuators underground that lift them into position, said project manager Hazim Yunis. In the winter, water drains through the seams and into the mechanical parts, then freezes.

Ice blocks the actuators, and even without freezing, water deteriorates the parts.

The seven-week gate closure will enable workers to excavate under the barriers and install heating capabilities and improve drainage, Yunis said. When complete, the actuators - warm and dry year-round - will provide the security they were designed for.

For the first three weeks of the closure, outbound traffic will use the inbound lanes as laborers work on the outbound lanes. Thereafter, traffic will use the outbound lanes.

Because there will be no inbound traffic allowed at the Boniface Gate, the Visitor Control Center there will be closed for the duration of the construction.

Those needing visitor passes will be required to use the Richardson Gate Visitor Control Center, in Building 47303 on D Street, until July 18. That VCC is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Muldoon Gate will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the closure.

Commercial vehicles, which currently use the Richardson and Post Road search facilities, must use the Post Road Gate only. That gate is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

The Arctic Valley Gate has reduced hours - 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Officials do not anticipate a change in the hours at the Government Hill Gate, which is open  Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sundays from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. On Unit Training Assembly weekends, the gate opens at 5:30 a.m. On holidays and down days, the gate operates on weekend hours.