[B]ENNINGTON — A $4 million reconstruction of the Bennington airport runway is set to begin April 30 and should be completed by July 30, state officials said.
The 3,704-foot runway at William H. Morse State Airport will be closed for the duration. That will require that businesses and groups with facilities at the airport arrange for alternative sites if needed during the construction period.
At a meeting Friday at the airport, Josh Martin, the project manager for VTrans; Paul Libby, senior project manager with the state Rail and Aviation Bureau; Christopher Beitzel, aviation program southern region manager, and other officials briefed locals on details of the project.
Officials had previously cited a March starting date for the project, and Bennington Airport Development Corp. members said they had heard April 2 was the start date. John Likakis and other members of the nonprofit group, which acts as the airport management entity, said they first learned of the new start date at Friday’s meeting.
“We have tried to move it as far forward as we can, but we have run into some issues,” Martin said, adding that the estimated reopening in July could be delayed depending on the weather.
Among the issues delaying the start, he said, was confusion over a new Agency of Natural Resources system for posting aspects of stormwater management permitting on the agency website. VTrans officials thought a required 30-day public comment period had been accounted for, Martin said, but “that was not actually the case. So that is what is pushing it out.”
But Martin said the contractor, Markowski Excavating Inc., of Florence, intends to work simultaneously on both the runway and a parallel taxiway, rather than follow a previous plan calling for work on the taxiway to be completed afterward.
The 35-foot-wide taxi strip is designed to allow landing aircraft to immediately turn off the 75-foot-wide runway, and allow pilots preparing for takeoff a space that is off the runway surface, clearing the way for other craft.
In answer to a question from Likakis, the VTrans aviation officials said there will be access to hangers and other buildings at the airport during construction.
Likakis also asked about the planned route for construction vehicles to the airport on Walloomsac Road, noting concerns from local residents over traffic and possible damage to the road surface.
The state officials said the planned route for those vehicles, which was worked out in cooperation with town officials, will be from Route 9 West to the airport entrance drive.
Markowski Excavating, which won the contract after submitting the low bid of just over $3.91 million, has experience with major airport construction projects, including a similar one last year at the Rutland airport, officials said.
State officials also said that a right-of-way issue concerning 2.5 acres required for work at one end of the runway, which last year delayed the setting of a construction schedule until an agreement was signed in Probate Court, has now been resolved.
VTrans officials also have said the state will consider waiving hangar rental fees for businesses or organizations during the construction period and will assist businesses wishing to operate from one of the other nine state airports.
Work will include reconstructing the runway down to its base, replacing the runway lighting system, extending a cleared safety zone by 100 feet at one end, and the first phase of a project to create a parallel taxiway along the entire runway.
The runway was constructed in 1982, and both the runway surface and the takeoff/landing lighting system are near the end of their life spans, officials have said.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation has said that $3.5 million in funding through the Federal Aviation Administration was approved for the Bennington project. The state will fund 10 percent of the cost.
