Airport Loop Road closes Thursday for maintenance at Humboldt County airport

Airport Loop Road at the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport closed Thursday for repairs, sending travelers through Baadsgaard Avenue while crews worked on the main access road in McKinleyville. The county said the detour still reached the curbside drop-off and pick-up area and the airport parking lot, but parking in front of the terminal could be very limited when the road reopened Friday.

The work was expected to run from about 8 a.m. to about 5 p.m. or later, weather permitting. Humboldt County described the project as chip sealing and painting, a preventative maintenance treatment meant to extend the life of the roadway. Motorists were told to watch for flaggers, slow down in the work zone and allow extra time around the terminal.

Airport operations were not expected to be affected, but access around the terminal still matters at ACV, which the county identifies as Humboldt County’s sole regional commercial service airport. United Airlines, Breeze Airways and Alaska Airlines currently serve the airport, giving the roadway outside the terminal a direct role in departures, pickups and parking for people flying in and out of the North Coast.

That importance showed up again in a county study released this year, which found that 41% of passengers traveling to and from Humboldt County now use ACV, nearly double the share in 2019. The same study said the average fare at ACV had fallen nearly 10% since 2019 to $231, the lowest level in more than a decade. For a county that relies on the airport as its main commercial air link, even a one-day closure on the loop road can ripple through travel plans, employee commutes and curbside traffic.

The county has been pushing airport-side improvements on several fronts. The Department of Aviation is updating its Airport System Plan for the six public-use airports it operates, and a 2024 rehabilitation project for ACV’s paid parking lots was billed as long overdue, with promised improvements that included new surfaces, more ADA-accessible spaces, EV charging, quicker entry and exit and 40% more parking spaces. The road work now underway is part of the same effort to keep the airport functioning smoothly before worn pavement becomes a larger problem.