Fresno airport to get $9m taxiway

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Jun. 5--The main taxiway at Fresno Yosemite International Airport will be rebuilt at a cost of more than $9 million as a result of a City Council vote Thursday.

Most of the money will come from a Federal Aviation Administration improvement fund, with a 5% match from the Measure C half-cent transportation sales tax. Airport improvements were among the projects promised when Fresno County voters approved a 20-year extension of the tax in November 2006.

City aviation director Russell Widmar told the council that the project should cause minimal inconvenience to airport users and will be completed within one year.

Widmar said the project had been expected to take two years because of limits on funding each year. But a construction slowdown during the recession led contractors to file bids much lower than had been estimated.

"When we started thinking about this project, it was an $18 million reconstruction project," Widmar said. "The bidding environment today has drawn that down to about half."

The winning bid, from Teichert Construction of Fresno, was about 32% below the city's final pre-bid estimate of $13.6 million.

The reporter can be reached at rclemings@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6371.