Rapid City Airport Board Approves Master Plan Update for Terminal, Runway Options

June 10, 2021

Jun. 9—Plans to expand the commercial airline terminal and relocate the main runway at Rapid City Regional Airport took another step forward this week after the airport's board of directors voted to approve final directions for the 20-year master plan.

The plan calls for the terminal to be expanded with three additional gates, bringing the total to 10 gates and 11 aircraft parking places for the growth in commercial flights at the airport. The estimated cost of the expansion would be between $20 million and $30 million, much of which would be paid for by grants from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Airport Executive Director Patrick Dame said the demand for more capacity in the airline terminal is already there, with the increased service Rapid City is seeing during the summer months.

"We are progressing towards the terminal piece of the project. That is a definite need," Dame said. "You hate to say that you are behind on something, but again as we've been growing through this the demand is there. It's not a matter of if we build it, they will come. This demand is there."

Airport staff is projecting the expanded terminal may be completed within the next five to 10 years, and funding for the project would come from a mix of federal grants, state funding and the airport's capital fund.

"These are federally eligible projects, but as you get into terminals, they do have proration that come with them," Dame said. "Terminals tend to be an area where you have more local funding because certain areas of the terminal are ineligible for federal funding."

Dame explained that areas where passengers travel through the terminal building are typically eligible for federal funding, but areas "behind the scenes" like offices and baggage handling typically are not eligible for federal grants.

The Airport Board also gave master plan direction on their preference to construct a new main runway parallel to the existing runway and use the existing runway as a taxiway. The cost of that project is estimated to be between $70 million and $85 million.

The new runway would sit east of the existing one and would be constructed in the next 10-15 years. The existing 8,700-foot runway was last resurfaced in 1997, Dame said, and is beginning to show its age.

At an April 27 meeting, KLJ Engineering provided the Airport Board with two options related to the runway — reconstruct it in the current location, or relocate it east.

Although reconstruction of the runway would cost an estimated $55 million, it would take two to three "construction seasons" to complete. Because of South Dakota's winter weather, the construction season is from late spring through early fall and would require extensive airport closures for the work to be completed.

That wouldn't work well for Rapid City, as the summer tourist season is the busiest time at the airport, KLJ Engineering's Matt Nisbet said in April.

"Your airport plays a vital role in the region and if it was shut down for multiple construction seasons, which is tourism season, it would be a very significant issue," he said.

At Tuesday's meeting, Dame said the Airport Board's recommendations will be integrated into the master plan for future action.

"Again, these are plans. We're doing a 20-year plan, so it's not like we can't make a future decision if things change as we go through this," he said.

Contact Nathan Thompson at [email protected].

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