By Scott Edger
Little Apple Post
At Monday’s meeting of the Airport Advisory Board, outgoing Airport Director Jesse Romo told board members that the many hours scrambling to meet budget constraints are paying off for the beleaguered runway expansion project.
Funding the project has been something of labyrinthine task for airport staff. Federal Aviation Administration grants fund about 90 percent of total runway construction costs, typically leaving 10 percent up to local entities.
During initial planning stages, airport officials received from the FAA a master plan update detailing construction alternatives, as well as notification that, while the FAA approved the 150-foot runway, it would only pay for 100 feet of it.
Due to the proximity of Fort Riley, MHK applied for and received a Defense Community Infrastructure Program grant of almost $6 million to cover the remaining 50 feet.
Then the FAA, in the midst of pandemic-driven budgetary convulsions, hinted at capping grants at lower-than-expected levels. The fear of looming grant caps put the MHK team in motion again, investigating design alternatives to achieve a cost-saving of nearly $7 million while maintaining standards.
“There’s always more than one way to do it,” Romo told the Board. “That doesn’t mean an inferior product, it just means a different design.”
With the additional grants and modifications, funding for the project is currently about an 89/11 cost-share split with the FAA. Romo said various cogs should fall into place by next April that will reduce the City’s portion to the planned 10 percent.
According to Romo, specifics the project should be nailed down and ready for the bidding process by April 2022. There was concern among board members that, by the time construction actually commences, steadily increasing inflation would escalate construction costs beyond the dollar figures utilized in the grant application.
“We do see a trend line of costs going up for projects,” Romo said. “Ultimately it is going to be up to how contractors bid in April. That’s when you’ll see the real numbers.”
The FAA is expected to present a grant award offer for the project in May.
The runway project is expected to last approximately one year, with the runway being entirely closed for about four months of that time.
The airport’s current runway is approaching the end its useful lifespan, so the project is critical to maintaining operations and any potential expansion of the facility’s capacity.
While the runway closure will certainly impact travel and commercial transport, Romo said that the situation is not unusual when smaller facilities upgrade.
The pandemic and initial shutdowns were painful for the airport and its tenants, but Romo said that lessons learned while working through the challenges of that period are helping businesses at the facility prepare for the construction.
Major air partners are fully aware of the project and the temporary but severe impact on runway capacity during construction, according to Romo, and airport staff are reaching out to American and other carriers, coordinating and deliberating potential staging plans for the construction period.
Keazer recommended as Interim Director
As the meeting was Romo’s last before his departure to take over Wichita’s airports, the Advisory Board lauded his leadership and the team at MHK. The Board unanimously passed a resolution to the City Commission recommending current Assistant Airport Director Brandon Keazer be named as interim airport director.