Lincoln Airport's Runway Reconstruction Project: A Welcome Surprise in Bids

A Lincoln Airport official said when bids to rebuild the runway, one of the most expensive projects in the airport's history, were received recently, it was surprising — in a good way.

David Haring, executive director of the airport, said the runway bids, received on June 12, came in significantly lower than expected.

“Obviously we’ve talked about this for years and saying that this was going to be the largest — it still will be the largest project in the history of the airport — but the fact that it came back so significantly under where, I think we anticipated, was a very welcome surprise,” Haring said.

Lincoln-based Constructors Inc. submitted an $85 million bid for the project, which an engineer's estimate had projected would cost about $104 million. The company, owned by the construction and real estate company NEBCO, specializes in asphalt and concrete projects and has worked with the airport before, according to the company’s website.

The six submitted bids ranged from $85 million to $111 million. The other five bids came from companies in Kansas City, Wisconsin, Colorado and two in Omaha.

Chicago-based engineering and design firm Benesch, the engineering consultant for the project, sent a letter to the Lincoln Airport Authority Board recommending it award the contract to Constructors Inc.

Chad Lay, director of planning and development for the airport, said the bids are now in a 90-day hold period and the contract won’t be awarded until after a grant application is submitted and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The other five bidders were:

* Clarkson Construction Company, Kansas City, $88.9 million

* Hawkins Construction Company, Omaha, $89.9 million

* Graham Construction Inc., Omaha, $90.1 million

* Michel's Road & Stone, Inc., Brownsville, Wisconsin, $101.3 million

* W.W. Clyde & Co., Englewood, Colorado, $111.3 million

The runway project is a reconstruction of the airport's nearly 13,000 feet of runway, which is longer than many other runways because of the Nebraska Air National Guard's large planes.

The FAA, Nebraska National Guard, State of Nebraska and Nebraska Department of Transportation will contribute to the project. The Lincoln Airport is set to contribute about $13 million to the project, according to an initial estimate presented during a June town hall.

The board will award the construction contract and consider an amendment from Benesch, the engineering consultant for the project, for its services at a future meeting.

“We expect that we would get the offer of that grant in the August timeframe upon which we'll sign contracts with everybody else and hopefully commence work yet this fall,” Lay said.

Additional flights

The Lincoln Airport received a different, but also welcome, surprise recently when United Airlines officials visited Lincoln during an air service summit for the airport in May.

United Airlines representatives announced that they would be adding a fifth flight to Chicago, said Rachel Barth, director of Air Service Development and Strategic Marketing.

“We were not aware that United was going to add the Chicago flight, so the fact that he was able to announce that in front of stakeholders and show their commitment, I thought, was a really cool thing,” Barth said in May about a United Airlines route planner.

The Chicago flight will be added in September; the airport also started flying a fifth flight to Denver in May.

Flights could continue to change if United adds more flights or uses larger aircraft in Lincoln, which would likely decrease the frequency of flights, Barth said during a June town hall.

Barth said the best way to keep the airline interested in expanding in Lincoln is to fill seats. Flights in Lincoln are often near full capacity, which means some customers are spilling over to Omaha, she said.

“We hear it all the time, the best way to get more service is to use the service you have,” Barth said.

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