New lighting?

A paving project will require layout changes that will lead to replacing runway lighting.

Airport officials hope to parlay those modifications into new lighting for the entire runway.

Jason Clearwaters of engineering firm Butler, Fairman and Seufert explained during Wednesday’s Portland Board of Aviation meeting plans to push for the new lighting to be part of the federally funded project.

Butler, Fairman & Seufert is working on the design of a project to mill and pave the original 4,000 feet of the airport’s runway. (In 2022, the airport’s runway was extended to 5,500 feet.) He explained to the aviation board that the Federal Aviation Administration is now requiring any pavement-related projects to meet modern geometry standards. In the case of Portland’s runway, that will require some of the turning radii for connectors between the runway and taxiway to be widened. As a result, several lights would need to be moved and several new ones installed.

Clearwaters said he’d like to try to leverage those required changes into a larger project to replace all of the runway’s existing halogen lights with LEDs and upgrade related wiring. Such a project would modernize the facility’s 30-year-old lighting system.

“I’m going to push as hard as I can to get a whole new runway lighting system done at the same time,” he said, noting that it is becoming difficult to find halogen bulbs. “The runway’s closed. We’ve got to mill it, we’ve got to overlay it, fix cracks. What better time?”

He estimated the cost at $200,000 to $300,000, which, if approved, would be covered 95% by the FAA. (Indiana Department of Transportation and the city would each be responsible for 2.5%, which would amount to $10,000 to $15,000 based on projected costs.) The paving project was originally estimated at $1.52 million, but that cost is expected to go up with the need to change the turning radii.

The project is part of the airport’s ongoing improvement efforts, which have included the runway extension, apron expansion and hangar upgrades. Work that is in the facility’s capital improvement plan for the future includes installing a new automated weather observing station, rehabilitating the apron, upgrading the taxiway, adding hangar space and constructing a wildlife fence.

Aviation board members Faron Parr, Clyde Bray, John Ferguson and Caleb Lutes were supportive of the idea.

Clearwaters said he will update board members on the project at their January meeting.

They also approved a $16,713.20 pay request from Butler, Fairman and Seufert for work related to the design of the paving project, which is scheduled to go out for bid in the early spring.

The board also handled the final administrative steps on the apron expansion project that was completed this fall. Clearwaters reported that the work passed its final inspection.

Board members then approved the release of $47,877.77 in retainage to contractor Kwest Group. It also approved a change order for a reduction of $7,941.72 because the project came in under budget. 

Three different FAA grants were used to cover the bulk of the $957,555.43 project. The board approved reimbursement requests totaling $81,247.10 for those grants.

The board also approved the FAA final acceptance document.

In other business, the board:

•Heard from airport manager Hal Tavzel that Schmitt Foam came in with the lowest of three quotes — $15,776 for added spray foam insulation to a hangar at the airport. The company is expected to handle the work in January.

•OK’d leasing storage space for snow removal equipment from airport neighbor Chuck Denney at a rate of $1,500 for three months.

•Learned from Tavzel that the airport sold 7,803 gallons of fuel in November for $32,929.79. That’s up significantly from 4,973 gallons in November 2024 and 4,571 gallons in November 2023.

•Approved claims totaling $17,091.53.