Oct. 17--SELLERSBURG -- A meeting between the Federal Aviation Administration, the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Clark County Board of Aviation Commissioners last week has the air board feeling cautiously optimistic about 2013 funding.
Representatives from the air board met with representatives of the FAA and INDOT at the Aviation Association Conference in Plymouth earlier this month to discuss the airport's runway-expansion project at Clark County Regional Airport. According to engineer Mike Harris with Jacobi, Toombs & Lanz, INDOT tentatively has the airport programmed for $802,598 in state apportionment funding and an additional $150,000 in nonprimary entitlement funding. Even more could be on the way in discretionary funds from the FAA, but those numbers could be subject to change based on a variety of factors, warned Airport Manager Melodee McNames.
"Until we have that money in our hands, we can't spend it," McNames told the air board at its meeting Tuesday.
INDOT and FAA representatives indicated that 2013 funding will likely exceed this year's funding after the air board updated them on the runway-expansion project at Clark County Regional Airport.
"We're hopeful to receive at least $1 million next year in airport-improvement funds, but we're asking for even more than that," said Maria Muia, an airport consultant with Woolpert, an Indianapolis-based engineering firm. "But we're hopeful to get the million. Of course, we don't know that until we get the check in the mail, but things are looking positive for more funding next year than we got this year."
There are still some hurdles to overcome in the design phase of the runway-expansion project. Navigational beacons will likely need to be moved to the north end of the runway, and an obstruction survey will need to be conducted to see if the airport's runway-safety area will need to be modified to comply with new FAA regulations.
The Clark County airport's runway-safety area was approved by the FAA in 1989. Harris said he thinks that the obstruction survey will find that there aren't any problem obstructions.
Copyright 2012 - The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
