|
Newsletters
|
| |
|
|
| |
Title: |
TEX Receives $3.4 Million in Additional Grant Funding |
| |
Author: |
by Karen James |
| |
Date: |
05/07/2010 |
| |
| |
TEX Receives $3.4 Million in Additional Grant Funding
by Karen James
May 07, 2010 | 1365 views | 41 | 22 | |
Phase 3 Project Now Completely Funded
TELLURIDE – The Telluride Regional Airport has received an additional $3.4 million in federal funding to complete the third of a multi-phase runway and safety area improvement project in its entirety, U.S. Congressman John Salazar’s office confirmed on Friday, May 7.
The grant fills a critical shortfall between the $17 million in federal funding for completion of the phase previously awarded to the airport and announced by Salazar in early March, and a low construction bid of $20.4 million to complete the project opened just a few weeks later.
“As a pilot who frequently travels through Colorado’s mountain airspace I know how important it is to do all we can to make airport runways as safe as we possibly can. I support this funding for the Telluride Regional Airport and I will continue to support projects that put people to work and improve our country’s infrastructure,” Salazar said in a press release forwarded to The Watch prior to its wider distribution.
Now that full funding for the project has been secured, the airport will be able to complete each of 10 items scheduled for the phase, finally qualifying for a status upgrade from its current B-III safety category to a new D-III rating.
With the upgrade the airport will be able to accommodate larger aircraft than it can at present, notably the Bombardier Q400 airplane that is capable of carrying 76 passengers, upon which many are hedging their bets for improved tourism in the Telluride region.
“This really takes care of all the safety items for the runway project,” said Airport Manager Rich Nuttall. “We appreciate the Congressman's support on this.”
With the initial funding of $17 million for the phase the airport would have been able to complete its highest priority items including all of the earthworks needed for the safety areas upgrades and the installation of Engineered Material Arresting System – or EMAS – at each end of the runway, according to Nuttall.
EMAS is a bed of crushable concrete placed at the end of a runway that is designed to keep aircraft from running off the runway without harming passengers and with minimal aircraft damage. EMAS systems are often compared to runaway truck ramps used on steep-grade highways.
However, the difference between the original grant and the total construction cost meant that lower priority items still necessary for the safety category upgrade would have remained incomplete until new funding could be secured.
“If we get the physical work done by November 1 we’re theoretically two years ahead of schedule,” said Nuttall.
“This is a major accomplishment for the airport.”
Yet although the airport could conceivably qualify for the status change in just a few months, it will still be some time before it is actually able to accept larger aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration will still need to design and publish new category approaches for the runway that enable pilots to fly into the airport during bad weather using instruments rather than visual references, Nuttall said.
While that process could take as long as 18 months, “We’re hoping to get it done sooner than that,” he said.
The terminal will also need to be enlarged in order to accommodate the increased number of passengers that come and go in the larger aircraft.
“The goal is to have all those three items done by November 2011,” said Nuttall.
Unlike the last year’s Phase 2 project – a $23 million, seven-month phase of improvements that closed TEX between April and November while crews backfilled a notorious dip at the runway’s center, Phase 3 will have it closed only between May 10 and June 8, and now possibly for a few days in August.
“That should be all the closures for this year,” said Nuttall.
|
|
