Runway timeline taking shape

The 2020 timeline for initial work on extension of the runway at Portland Municipal Airport has begun to take shape.

Jason Clearwaters of Butler Fairman & Seufert, Portland Aviation Board’s engineering firm, said Wednesday he expects that specifications for grading and drainage work to be advertised in May, with bids opened in June.

But contracts won’t be signed until October when funds from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Indiana Department of Transportation are released.

“We expect the contract to be issued the first week of October,” Clearwaters said.

Preliminary engineering estimates are that the grading and drainage portion of the project will come in at $3,039,500. Of that tentative total, $2,735,550 would come from the FAA and $151,975 would come from INDOT.

The remaining $151,975 would come from the City of Portland.

To set the process in motion, the aviation board approved submitting a pre-application for the funds, which will be adjusted after the bidding process.

“It’s a draft,” said Clearwaters. “I know it’s going to change when the bids come in.”

The board’s “wish list” capital improvement plan calls for paving and lighting of the runway extension to 5,500 feet and expansion and reconstruction of the apron in the area of the terminal to be done in 2021.

“This is your wish list,” Clearwaters said as he presented plans that stretch through 2025. “It’s going to take some time to work through this.”

In other business, Matt Simmons, filling in for airport manager Hal Tavzel, reported $18,713.02 in fuel sales in October and $14,309.59 to date in November. Sales were almost evenly divided between jet fuel and low-lead aviation fuel.