Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Murfreesboro Municipal Airport (KMBT) runway project starts in April

Murfreesboro Airport manager Chad Gehrk




MURFREESBORO – Pilots and MTSU aviation majors should be able to land at an extended runway completed by around Aug. 18, Murfreesboro Airport Manager Chad Gehrke said.

“We are going to start this April,” Gehrke told the Murfreesboro City Council last week. “Our goal is to get this (finished) by the time MTSU gets into the (fall) semester.”

The seven-member council responded to Gehrke’s recommendation by hiring LoJac Enterprises to extend the Murfreesboro Airport runway by 852 feet for a new total of 4,750.

“We will also be taking up the old asphalt on the existing runway and repaving that, as well,” Gehrke said during a Monday phone interview.

LoJac had the lowest bid at $4.5 million to beat out two other competing firms: HMA Contractors, which bid nearly $5.5 million; and Baron Construction, which bid about $5.6 million.

About 20 days after the construction is completed, LoJac will come back and stripe the runway, Gehrke said.

The airport, which is behind the new Walmart on Memorial, will be closed for three weeks during the 135-day project while final paving takes place, Gehrke told the council.

Gehrke said he and his staff will send out notices to pilots and other airports about the city airport being closed. Two large letter “X’s” will be placed on the grounds to remind approaching pilots not to land there, the airport manager added.

“We will be working at night for about 35 days,” said Gehrke, who noted that LoJac has done a lot of airport work.

During part of the project, the airport will use a temporary runway that stretches 3,300 feet, but the existing tenants should be able to continue, including Middle Tennessee State University’s largest aircraft, a King Air, Gehrke said.

In addition to the longer runway, the airport will replace its lighting with LED bulbs.

“The efficiency of the LED will help us tremendously,” Gehrke said. “It should stand out a little bit brighter.”

In addition to the council hiring LoJac, the elected officials approved an amended grant the airport pursued with the assistance of consulting firm ATKINS and the Tennessee Aeronautics Division to fund the runway extension and lighting project for a new total of nearly $5.1 million.

The original grant was more than $3.1 million, but the amendment adds more than $1.9 million to the total.

The total grant includes more than $4.4 million from the state, $328,000 from the federal government and $295,090 from airport debt and interest payments covered by airport revenues from fuel sales and leases.

The amended grant will address the following improvements:

•the addition of concrete drainage ditches to meet Federal Aviation Administration standards for managing storm water run-off rates

•the addition of LED lights and all wiring installed in a conduit, to cut utility bills and make maintenance easier

•more work on three of the four taxiway runway connectors, bringing them up to the latest required federal airport design standards and construction of Taxiway “E” to serve newest tenant, Air Methods, and for future airfield development as outlined in the Airport Layout Plan.

Story and photo:  http://www.dnj.com

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