Nevada airport board continues to pursue runway improvement

By Ralph Pokorny

Nevada Daily Mail

Renovation of Nevada's Municipal Airport is on track and rebuilding of the main runway is expected to begin in March of 2006.

The final draft of the airport master plan is complete and has been submitted to the Missouri Department of Transportation for their review, Dave Hadel, director of general aviation services for Burns & McDonald, told the Nevada Airport Board Tuesday evening.

"MoDOT has had the master plan for about six weeks. We are in the home stretch," Hadel said.

Burns & McDonald, which is located in Kansas City, has the contract to develop a master plan for the airport and to rebuild the runway.

Based on the current traffic at Nevada's airport MoDOT appears likely to approve building a 5,500-by-75-foot runway; however, Hadel said that based on their projections of potential future usage, the runway needs to be 100 feet wide in order to meet the needs of the larger corporate jets that will be used in future years.

The only way to get the wider runway will be to show MoDOT that there is a potential need for the larger runway in the future, he said.

"We need the letter-writing campaign, now. Nevada is on the bubble to get 5,500-by-100 or 5,500-by-75," Hadel said.

The standard size of corporate jets is increasing and some of these planes, which may need to land here in the future, are not permitted to land on 75-foot wide runways because there may not be enough room if there is a crosswind, Hadel has told the board in past meetings.

We need to show MoDOT that there is the potential for larger aircraft to use the airport in the future to justify the wider runway, he told the board.

"The letters from prospective users need to be written in the next six months to show that we are moving in the direction we talked about," he said.

Hadel said that these letters are to show an intent to use the larger facility, not a guarantee that they will use it.

City manager Craig Hubler said that the city is ready to have a meeting with the area corporations to discuss their needs and have them submit letters.

Hadel told the board that he anticipates putting the projects out for bids around Christmas with the first phase of the construction beginning in March.

"Phasing is the key. We want to keep the airport open during the construction. Phase one will close 3,100 feet at the north end of the runway, leaving 2,500 feet to allow small planes to use while the north part is being constructed," he said.

When that part is finished they will close off the remainder of the runway, leaving the newly-built part for planes to use.

"The other choice is to close the runway entirely until the runway is done. Not a good choice," he said.

Hadel told the board that based on new information they have received he has revised the method they will use for the runway improvements.

Instead of milling and resurfacing the runway, now they plan to bring in equipment to pulverize the existing surface and the underlying rock. then compact it to create a more solid base for the new asphalt surface.

This will actually make for a better runway that will cost less, he said.

"MoDOT is very much in favor of this approach," he said.

In a related matter the board also heard proposals from Adams & Associates and Burns & McDonald for construction of the new terminal building at the airport and then rated the companies.

Both companies have worked on various aspects of the project and are familiar with the airport.

Hubler told the board that the city had tried to devise a contract to use Burns & McDonald for larger projects at the airport and Adams for smaller ones, but that had proved impossible so they have proposals from both firms to evaluate.

Tuesday's airport board meeting also provided an opportunity for Nevada City Councilman Tim Moore to approach the board with a request to name something at the airport in memory of Councilman Mike Straight, who died in April.

Improving the appearance of Nevada's airport was Straight's pet project during much of his time on the council, Moore told the board.

"Mike took a suggestion from a couple of citizens to look at what could be done to improve the airport and ran with it. He bulldogged the city council to find some money to fix it up," Moore said.

Straight and Craig Hubler worked to get some grants to make it possible, he told the board.

"I think it's very fitting to find something of importance at the airport to name after Mike," he said.

Shortly before Straight died, Moore said that he told Straight what he wanted to do.

"It was one of the few smile's I saw on his face while he was in the hospital," he said.

Moore said that he realizes that there are many other people, like the Brysons, who have worked to make the airport better and he does not want to take anything away from them; however, if it is possible it would be a nice gesture.

Robert Jones, board chairman, said that everyone on the board knew Mike Straight and they would consider the request at the appropriate time.