Taxiway decoupling causes controversy in reconstruction project at Walla Walla Regional Airport (KALW)

Mike Fredrickson

WALLA WALLA, Washington — Phases One and Two of the Taxiway Alpha Reconstruction project at the Walla Walla Regional Airport were completed last year, and they are now moving on to the next two phases. Walla Walla Commissioner Mike Fredrickson says there’s a bit of controversy due to the decoupling of some of the taxiways that are part of Phases Three and Four.

“We’re figuring out the geometry,” says Fredrickson. Due to the decoupling, Fredrickson says, “one of our runways won’t have any access back so we are trying to ask the FAA if we can have a runway …open for the flight school.”

Walla Walla University uses the runway for their flight school, and while it isn’t in great shape, it is good for touch-and-go practice for aviation students. Fredrickson says their preliminary engineer estimation on that runway is about $1.7 million to get out to it and rehab it for WWU’s general aviation pilots.

Fredrickson says they are in communication with the Federal Aviation Association, but without the taxiways to the runway, they don’t know if the FAA will allow them to keep it open.

In total, it is a $14 to $15 million dollar project, about 91 percent funded by the FAA. The infrastructure they are reconstructing dates back to World War 2 and it’s only been overlaid since then, making this the first total reconstruction since the 1940’s and 50’s.

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