Will Consider Resurfacing, Other Improvements

The FAA has denied a request by the Blue Earth, MN City Council for an AIP grant to lengthen the runway at Blue Earth Municipal airport (KSBU) by 1,200 feet. The agency cited a lack of traffic volume at the facility.

The grant would have also helped build a new parallel taxiway and apron at the field.

The council got the news during a report from the Bolton and Menk Engineering firm which had been working on the project, reportedly valued at just over $6 million.

The Fairbault County Register reports that Ron Roetzel from the engineering firm said the FAA would consider a grant for resurfacing the current runway, as well as construction of a taxiway and the concrete apron. Roetzel said he was unsure about the costs of the scaled-back projects.

Roetzel told the council that the FAA requires at least 500 operations per year to fund such a project. He said a 2006 survey showed at least that many aircraft movements, but that some on the council had questioned them as being "inflated." The request was also based on an anticipated increase in larger airplane and small jet traffic, but the airport only recorded 26 such operations projected in 2010.

Dandra DePottey, an FAA official in Minneapolis, wrote in a letter to the Blue Earth City Council “We have determined that a runway extension is not justified at this time. We find that this is because of a lack of forecasted demand to justify additional runway length due to changing economic conditions. A project to reconstruct the current 3,400 foot runway, the existing taxiways and apron, and construction of a full parallel taxiway can continue to be processed for 2010 funding.”

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.becity.org