Taxiway D bidding to start next week; regional airport sees success over solar eclipse

Airport manager Katrina Amos informed the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Advisory Board that Taxiway D will be out to bid next week and gave an overview of the solar eclipse’s impact on the airport at the Thursday, April 11, meeting.

Amos said the complete reconstruction of Taxiway D is the first part of a three-part project, which includes Taxiways E and F.

“Delta (D) was the easiest project to get going because it didn't have any nav aids or utilities running underneath that we had to contend with,” Amos said. “Fortunately, we were able to move pretty quickly with this one, and then Echo (E) and Foxtrot (F) will come later.”

According to Amos, the taxiway runs along the east side of Runway 2 and will be out to bid starting next week. The funding for the reconstruction comes from Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding.

Amos also said to the board the solar eclipse Monday, April 8, was a successful day for the organization. She said, according to a “rough count”, there was about 300 people who flew in for the event and had over 100 airplanes.

“We sold 5,900 gallons of jet fuel and almost 2,000 gallons of low-leaded fuel,” Amos said.

She said the last airplane left at 4:30 p.m. that day.

Other projects

Work on the new airport terminal is still underway. Amos said they will have a contractor testing the electrical systems as things go online.

“We're about 2 1/2 months out from completion,” she said. “There's no delay so far; all the issues that we have had, we worked through and pretty swiftly.”

Amos said they are also working on what the grand opening for the facility will look like.

The airport’s T-hangars construction is currently facing a challenge with the city’s stormwater restrictions. Amos said stormwater flow hasn’t affected the terminal project since it was already a “paved surface.”

“It really hasn't impacted the stormwater flow as much as the T-hangars. It's about a 2-acre footprint and so the stormwater has to go somewhere,” she said. “They (city) require a minimum of one-inch treatment of stormwater. And so, as of right now, we're not meeting that one inch so we're having to try to figure it out.”

Amos said they’re currently still trying to figure out solutions for their stormwater problem.

Three terms are coming up for the airport advisory board with recommending that Mark Mehner be reappointed to his position, then appointing Nancy Kopp and former airport manager Bruce Loy onto the board.