Chico taxiway work to start soon
CHICO » Work to rehabilitate Taxiway A at the Chico Municipal Airport will be moving forward, with the $3 million-plus cost is completely covered by the federal government.
But the project construction will definitely impact use of the airport.
“The FAA was able to provide grant funding for this project. We received and executed the grant offer a couple of weeks ago,” wrote interimairport manager Rod Dinger in an email to this publication.
The cost of the project is $3,115,281, and is covered by a combination of Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Project discretionary grand funds, and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act specifically set aside for airports.
“Unfortunately, we only received enough grant funds to award the base bid which was Phase II. We had hoped the FAA would find the funds to cover the alternate bids, that included Phase III,” according to Dinger.
The city intends to apply for 2021 grant funds to complete the Phase III portion next year,
Dinger said.
Knife River of Chico was the low bidder and will be awarded the contract, Dinger said. The contract is being written now and signatures gathered.
“Absolutely, the construction project will disrupt normal operations. We will have to close a critical portion of the parallel taxiway ( Taxiway A) for the duration. Depending upon thewind direction and active runway, the FAA contract tower will need to “back-taxi” aircraft on the runway to navigate around the construction zone.
“Minimizing the project timeline is important so we can also minimize the impact to normal operations,” he added.
Dinger said the project is expected to take 40 work days, and work is hoped to start soon in order to complete the project this year. The specific date has not been set yet, because not all signatures have been acquired, and a pre- construction meeting is needed.
“In the event we hit issues, we would need to place the project into winter suspension and complete it in the Spring of 2021,” Dinger said.