Runway work may be delayed

Funding for the second phase of the runway project has been approved.

Now it’s just a waiting game.

Portland Board of Aviation was approved recently for a $3.27 million grant through the Federal Aviation Administration for the second phase of the runway extension project, which is likely to begin in late spring next year. Weather delays may stretch the first half of construction work into November.

Portland Municipal Airport is currently in the middle of extending its runway from 4,000 feet to 5,500 feet. The first phase of that work, which includes leveling the land west of the old runway and enclosing a portion of the Alexander Ditch, is ongoing. The second phase involves paving and lighting the area. Both projects are being fully funded by the FAA. (Typically only 90% of such projects are covered by the FAA, with 5% each coming from the state and municipality. COVID-19 relief monies have made it possible for the FAA to pay for both phases of Portland’s runway project.)

Tim Barkey of engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert said construction workers are about 85% complete with the project started in June. (Work on the runway paused for an entire week in mid-July because of rain.)

“We’ve obviously had a lot of wet days the contractor has lost,” Barkey said of the weather. “We can have a fall like this until Thanksgiving –– you never know what kind of weather you’re going to get.”

He’s optimistic the eastern portion of the work will be completed by the end of next week. In the last two weeks, Barkey said, the extension itself is becoming more evident with the runway filled in.

“(We’re) hoping that we have three/four weeks of good weather so that we can (this) completed,” Barkey said. “That would be ideal at this point.”

Some of the seeding may not be finished until the spring, he added.

Construction management will meet today to discuss a timeline on getting the runway back to full-length. Barkey said contractors will be requesting additional days for the project originally slated to be finished by the end of this month.

No official start date has been set for the lighting and paving project, although Jason Clearwaters, aviation production manager at Butler, Fairman and Seufert, estimated contractors will try to avoid the wet season and aim for around June 1. (Board members pre-approved accepting the second phase grant dollars and awarding the contract to Milestone Contractors in September.) It will take about two and a half months once started, he noted.

The board approved paying $875,789.34 to HIS Constructors of Indianapolis –– the contractors hired for the first phase of the runway extension –– for work completed between Sept. 4 through Oct. 11. It also agreed to submit a $946,536.96 pay request to FAA for the project.

Also Wednesday, board members accepted a bid from Milestone Contractors for $60,418 to pave the airport’s driveway running parallel along county road 100 North and convert stone areas to asphalt.

In other business, the board:

•Agreed to re-bid concrete work for areas near and inside one of the hangers at the airport.

•Learned from airport manager Hal Tavzel the airport sold 5,639 gallons of fuel in September for $22,538.53.

•Heard about the Aviation Indiana Conference hosted in Michigan City from Oct. 12 through 14. Portland Mayor John Boggs, board member John Lyons and Tavzel attended the conference. Tavzel explained it’s a good networking experience, and he said he learned about topics such as new airplane tracking technology. “(I) just really felt like this was one of the years where I got a lot out of it,” he said.