Thursday, March 28, 2024

Airport work months ahead of schedule

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CITY OF GRANBURY- Airport work months ahead of schedule

Expansion will allow business jets to fly in, out of Granbury

The expansion project for the Granbury Regional Airport is four months ahead of schedule, according to city officials.

Phase II — a large part of the multi-year plan — is expected to be completed in less than two weeks.

Once the entire project is finished late next year, business jets will be able to land and take off in Granbury, which local leaders believe will be a boost for economic development.

Another plus is that aviation-related businesses are predicted to open around the airport’s perimeter, adding to the local job base.

Half the funding for the $32 million project is coming from the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division. TxDOT Aviation is doling out about $3 million annually to the project. The city is paying the rest.

The new runway is 5,200 feet long (almost one mile) and 75 feet wide and runs parallel to Loop 567. It is farther west of the current runway, providing a higher level of safety to nearby Granbury High School and Lake Granbury Medical Center.

After 12 years of the city pursuing government funds to help in expanding the growing community’s airport, the project took off in September 2016 after the Granbury City Council committed to the city’s share of funding. The council approved spending $4.8 million for the construction portion.

The final design work for the runway with taxiway option started immediately afterward and was completed in mid-2019.

From there, the expansion and runway were planned to be built in three major phases.

Phase 1 was the relocation of the overhead electric transmission lines down Hwy. 377 and Loop 567 and the construction of a new substation. That portion of the project was completed in May 2019.

Phase II was started on July 6 of last year.

According to Granbury Public Information Officer Alex Southern, that portion of the work included coordinating with the Texas Forest Service on the removal of dozens of mesquite trees.

The forest service used the opportunity to provide wildfire clearing training to their staff. The removed trees were then ground into mulch and used at the site.

Southern said that the city and contractors were “very efficient” in the use of materials during the Phase II construction.

Aviation Director Pat Stewart stated, “We did not bring in one ounce of fill material for this job. We moved a mountain in the middle of the runway to the ends. Our runway is now flat, absolutely flat, but is not level. It is 58 feet higher on the south end than it is on the north end, and it gives pilots the line of sight they need.”

He said that at times Mario Sinacola & Sons Excavating, Inc. had up to 50 crew members working at the site six days a week. The Frisco-based company was the lone contractor for Phase II.

“They had two huge mining machines that cut the (limestone) rock,” Stewart stated. “The biggest one would cut up to eight-foot-wide swaths, 18 inches deep, and would turn the limestone into usable fill. The machine moves less than a mile an hour, so it would just sit there and grind all day long.”

The aviation director said that the number of crew members is now down to about 10 as they focus on drainage work.

The last step of Phase II, called “dressing out,” will involve contractors cutting all the rough surfaces to their finished grade and “dressing” the runway’s slopes with grass and seeds.

Stewart said that KSA Engineering, based in San Angelo, is developing the bids for Phase III.

He and Southern said that money for Phase III is expected from TxDOT Aviation in July and the City Council will probably award the contract for that final phase in September.

Stewart said that any remaining TxDOT funds from the project may be used to construct an “apron,” or additional parking area for airplanes.

He also stated that there will be a significant amount of land lease opportunities for hangar construction by individuals or companies once the project is finished.