Potsdam Airport Could See Federal Funding in Taxi-Widening and Rehab Project

POTSDAM — Village Board members got what Administrator Gregory O. Thompson said was some good news in the form of potential federal grant funding for a project expected to get underway this summer, during a time when good news is needed.

The Potsdam Municipal Airport Taxi-Widening and Rehabilitation Project could receive a part of an approximate $100 million set aside for such projects through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and. Economic Security Act, Mr. Thompson reported to the Village Board during Monday nights monthly meeting via Zoom Technologies.

“At first I didn’t think we were going to benefit monetarily but I had been talking with Passero Associates, which is our engineering firm at the airport, and they have explained to me that because we are what what’s called a general aviation airport, meaning we’re not just a passenger airport, we’re not just a freight airport, we’re a little bit of everything.”

Right now the finalization of the grants is taking place which means no one has been given anything in writing that they have a grant, but the village has received a preliminary response that they are going to get a grant, Mr. Thompson said.

“We are waiting for the official documentation to come down from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration),” he said. “As soon as we get that, we have already had some contractors show interest in the project, we’ll get the bid solidified and we’ll get a notice to proceed out and we’ll begin work.”

The potential funding may also cover a local match that is somewhere around $100,000 Mr. Thompson said.

“If this money will do that for us, we’re gonna take lemons and make lemonade,” he said. “So we are relatively optimistic that we should see something taking place by July or August. Again, a lot of depends on the COVID-19 situation. Airports are essential infrastructure, also they should be able to go, so that is what we are hoping for.”

The project, which Mr. Thompson said should take the better part of a year, will only impact air traffic when work is being done on the four cross-runway tie ins, which are the smaller runways that go between the taxi runway and the main runway, but that disruption should be for a minimal amount of time and will likely result in air traffic being redirected to the airports in Ogdensburg or Massena.

However, the village is working with the FAA to potentially only cease air traffic during work on the first tie in lane and, once it is established, he said air traffic could resume as long as runways are cleared for traffic.

“Now we have put all of that together and we wait for the FAA to actually award the grant and then we can start moving forward on the taxiway widening and reconstruction,” he said.

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