Feb. 12—The Manhattan City Commission on Tuesday will receive the completed design plan for the runway at Manhattan Regional Airport.

City administrators that commissioners vote to allow city staff to issue requests for bids for the runway project. Olsson Associates completed the project design and submitted the design to the Federal Aviation Administration for final review. The city government wouldn't ask for bids until the FAA approved the design.

For the main runway, the city will use a "rubblization" technique, which does not involve complete reconstruction of the runway but does, in essence, smooth out the runway surface and allows crews to apply additional layers of asphalt and concrete along the runway.

In 2019, officials said the runway doesn't have significant structural issues, but the surface is eroding.

The plan is to lay a 5-inch asphalt base after rubblization, then apply a 10.5-inch concrete surface. Other sections will get a 12-inch surface with no base. The plan also calls for the reconstruction of the secondary runway, intersections and five taxiways as well as the removal of one taxiway and the additional of more lights and navigational aids along the runway.

The runway will remain 150 feet wide after a debate with the FAA.

During early development of the design, the FAA said the airport is only eligible for funding for a 100-feet-wide runway because the airport had less than 500 flights taking off with less than a 150,000 pound aircraft annually.

City officials fought for and ultimately secured funding for keeping the 150-feet-wide runway because K-State and Fort Riley needed that width for its flights.

Since August when Olsson completed 60% of the design, the firm modified pavement designs, reducing the estimated cost by $7 million for a new price of $47.24 million. The city expects nearly $43 million from several federal funding sources and $4.4 million from local funds. Olsson reduced estimated construction time by 2-3 weeks with runway construction estimated to last from April 2023 to August 2023.

Commissioners also will hold a public hearing to consider issuing industrial revenue bonds for Meadowlark Hills for independent living units and underground park projects. The senior living facility would receive $25 million to build 24 independent living units and an underground parking deck with 36 parking stalls.

Under an IRB, the city takes ownership of the property and leases it back to the entity, which makes the annual principal and interest payments on the bonds equal to the lease payments. The city has no legal responsibility for paying the bonds.

Commissioners also will go into a private session to discuss purchasing property for fire department purposes.

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