Federal money would cover 96% of Wasilla's $20 million runway extension, staff says

Three days after the Wasilla City Council adopted a master plan for the city's airport, city staff told the Wasilla Airport Advisory Commission on Thursday that the federal government would pay 96% of the estimated $20 million cost of the plan's first runway extension, from about 3,700 feet to 5,100 feet. The city still has to apply for the grants, which it plans to do after an environmental review it aims to finish by the end of next July.

The Federal Aviation Administration had found the extension eligible for its Airport Improvement Program by August, according to the commission's minutes. Staff called that finding "a huge deal." During daily runway condition checks last winter, the city tried to attract diversions and be ready for medical flights, staff said, to raise the number of larger B-II aircraft using the airport so the FAA would agree those flights justify the cost.

The environmental review with HDL Engineering Consultants started with a cultural study of all land inside the airport boundary. Staff said they hadn't seen the full report but understood it found no cultural resources that would need to be relocated. Winter work comes next, then spring surveys that must be done when leaves are on the trees.

After the review, the city would ask the FAA for a grant to design and build the extension. Staff expects to bring the commission a resolution, probably around the first of the year, asking the council to pay for design up front and be reimbursed by the FAA. The project would also rehab the rest of the runway at its current 75-foot width. Staff said the runway would widen to at least 100 feet if it later reaches 6,000 feet.

The FAA could also reimburse the city for land it has bought in the runway safety area at the end of Runway 22. Twenty parcels are owned or under negotiation, staff said. The commission backed buying at least 11 in August. Some owners will sell all their parcels or none, so the city has to show the FAA that each whole parcel is needed. If the FAA pays for only part now, staff said, the city can ask again once a 6,000-foot runway is approved.

The contractor building the airport's new Taxiway Kilo now has until the end of next July to finish. Crews lost about a month at the start of the season to deep frost, then kept running into rain delays on silty ground, staff said. Staff said 90% of that work is outside the runway safety area and won't require closures.

Staff said an earmark from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski paid for most of the master plan's 2.5-year planning process. The council is scheduled to discuss airport rates Nov. 9; the commission has talked about raising them because the airport's expenses exceed its revenue.

The commission met without a quorum and took no action.