Powell River Airport’s rehabilitation project was brought in on time and under budget, City of Powell River councillors were told recently.
At the February 6 city council meeting, director of infrastructure Tor Birtig said in 2021, the city received funding from the airport capital assistance program (ACAP). The amount came to just over $8 million for the runway rehabilitation, as well as some associated work, according to Birtig.
As well, the city had funding from the community economic recovery infrastructure program (CERIP) of an additional $1 million. At that time, it was earmarked for landfill closure and the extension of the runway over that landfill.
“As you recall, we ran into geotechnical issues with that landfill and unfortunately, we were not able to increase the length of the runway from what we had proposed of 426 feet,” said Birtig. “Instead, we were still able to increase it, but only by 146 feet. Through the construction, we were also able to reduce the slope of the runway down to just below 1.5 per cent, as well as provide safety areas at both ends of the runway.
“We upgraded the electrical infrastructure to provide LED lights and additional electrical infrastructure.”
In the end, the city was able to get certification under Transport Canada’s new airport regulations. Birtig said the rehabilitation resulted in increased load capacity for some aircraft.
“We have an improved safety level at the airport,” said Birtig.
He said with respect to the budget, the initial project had incurred a total price of almost $6.9 million and there is an estimated $18,000 of forecasted costs that are not fully complete.
“Although we have the pavement and the landscaping and the lighting up there, there are a couple of items that are still outstanding, but minor in impact,” said Birtig.
“We do have one outstanding issue where we have held back funding for some grass seeding that hasn’t taken. We’ll have to wait until spring to see if it has taken. If not, we’ll look to the contract to remediate that.”
Birtig said the total cost is forecast to be $6.9 million, which brings the project to $1.1 million under the initial budget of $8 million.
“We were able to complete the project on time, opening up the runway for June 8, on schedule,” said Birtig. “Unfortunately, we had to rely on the patience of Pacific Coastal Airlines, as we didn’t have a second runway in place. We had to close the airport for a period of two months.
“We believe it was a successful project.”
Birtig said there was some additional good news pertaining to the $1 million CERIP grant, which was dedicated for the landfill capping and runway extension. He said since that project is not going forward, CERIP has provided initial approval to complete a final design of the capping, which will not allow extension of the runway, but the landfill still has to be capped so there is no infiltration into the landfill.
The city has also put forward a couple of projects that have been accepted, including improvements to taxiway Bravo. Birtig said there are unsatisfactory paving conditions on that taxiway. The grant can also be used for rehabilitation of the airport parking lot, which is not in very good shape, he said.
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