Town Awarded A $6.6 Million AIP Grant For The Work

Takeoffs and landings will be a lot smoother by this time next year at Pittsfield (MA) Municipal Airport (KPSF), thanks to a $6.6 million AIP grant which was among those announced recently by DOT Secretary Elaine Chao.

The grant will also be used to construct a new taxiway at the airport.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that the city applied for the grant in the spring. It will cover 90 percent of the cost of the project, with the city and state Department of Transportation splitting the remaining 10 percent. Each will be required to allocate $300,000 for the work.

Airport manager Gloria Bouillon said that the runway has deteriorated to a point that repairs are no longer an option. Loose asphalt needed to be removed from the runways on a regular basis to prevent foreign object damage.

The pavement on the 5,791-foot runway 8/26 is at least 25 years old, while the pavement on the 3,498-foot runway 14/32 has been down at least 30 years. Bouillon said that the runways had a "pavement condition index" of 40, where an acceptable rating is 75, and constant repairs were not doing enough to improve the rating.

The work follows an 10-year, $20 million expansion project that ended in 2015. Repairs to the runways will require the airport to close or restrict operations for a portion of the spring and summer of 2018, but Bouillon said that when it is finished, the city will save money that is currently being spent on the constant maintenance.

Beginning somewhere around May 1, the main runway at KPSF will be closed for 85 calendar days, according to the report. A second phase involves rebuilding the outer edges of the shorter runway, which is expected to take about 55 days. The main runway will be open while that work is being completed, Bouillon said.

FMI: Original Report