YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The ramp leading to the parking deck on the roof of the Yokota Community Center will be closed partially beginning Wednesday for scheduled upgrades.
A local contractor is repaving and regrooving the surface to enhance safety and reduce maintenance requirements, officials said. A fresh coat of paint also will be applied during the $120,000 project, funded by the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron. Work should be wrapped up by March 2.
“The ramp will have a cross-grooved nonslip concrete surface, with a nonslip hardened entryway and exit area in front of the ramp,” said 2nd Lt. Charles Comfort, chief of the civil engineer squadron’s construction management section. “During snow or rain, the ramp can become extremely slippery. There’s been damage to the ramp caused by slipping vehicles during inclement weather.
“The renovations will offer the customers of YCC a safer alternative to park, which will reduce the potential for hazard on the ramp.”
Starting Wednesday, motorists won’t have access to the ramp from 8-11 a.m. weekdays. A partial closure will be in effect from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with three flagmen directing traffic.
The ramp’s two lanes both will be open after 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and all day on weekends.
“We’re trying to make it during nonpeak hours,” said Capt. Rockie Wilson, the 374th Civil Engineer Squadron’s chief of maintenance engineering.
No work is planned for the YCC’s parking deck, Comfort said. However, Seikitokyu Kogyo Company Ltd., the local contractor handling all of Yokota’s resurfacing projects, is repaving Crabb Avenue from the ramp’s entrance and exit toward the Burger King and YCC — about 33 yards in each direction.
That work will require a full road closure Feb. 7, Comfort said, with that segment of Crabb Avenue limited to one lane a day later.
From Feb. 9-25, workers plan to replace the yellow barrels that separate the ramp’s entrance and exit, but the road won’t be shut down.
While the ramp project certainly will impact traffic flow around the YCC, Comfort said the officials organizing closures and alternate routes are prepared to deal with the situation.
“It definitely will be a slight inconvenience for drivers, but not to the point where they’ll be totally frustrated,” he added. “Measures are in place to deal with the traffic.”
