Airport Board Approves Bid for South Taxiway Project

Apr. 28—A long-held vision of development on the south side of the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Airport will soon move forward.

The Airport Authority Board approved a $2.8 million bid from Debco Construction to build the South Taxiway Project that will cover 18 acres and consist of taxiways to private hanger sites. The Orofino-based company submitted the lowest bid of three companies to vie for the project. Each of the bids came in below an estimate of $3.5 million compiled by T-O Engineers of Boise.

Construction can begin once the airport receives money it has been allocated from a Federal Aviation Administration grant that is connected to the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year. The airport is expecting to receive about $2 million per year over five years from the infrastructure bill.

Airport director Mike Isaacs said the taxiways will be designed to handle G650 aircraft — private jets that can carry about 12 to 18 passengers.

"We are going to have room for 30 more hangers," he said. "We have a waiting list for people to build hangers so that is going to help relieve that demand."

The board approved the bid in a 4-0 vote at its meeting Tuesday. Board chairman Gary Peters, owner of Peters & Keatts Equipment, abstained from voting.

"Our company does business with all three contractors. I think I'm going to sit this one out," he said.

The airport received a compliance letter Tuesday from the FAA outlining issues highlighted in a recent safety inspection. Isaacs said the inspection went well and the airport is making strides to bring the airport up to federal standards.

"We are really coming into our own," he said.

Items the airport must address include updating its Airport Certification Manuel, addressing several "humps, depressions and surface variations" and repairs of new runway and taxiway markings.

Inspectors also asked the airport to work with the adjacent Bryden Canyon Golf Course to discourage geese from congregating in a pond at the course and trimming trees that have grown tall enough to encroach on the airport's airspace.

Isaacs said the board has budgeted $20,000 to address the geese problem and has identified possible solutions such as placing a net over the pond, using a small robotic vessel to scare the geese or covering the entire pond with plastic spheres known as bird balls so the geese are crowded out.

In his report to the board, Isaacs reported that cruise boat passengers are using the airport either after completing a trip up the lower Snake River or before starting a trip down the river. For example, on May 25, 98 cruise ship passengers are scheduled to fly into the airport. On average, about 44 cruise ship passengers are scheduled to arrive on flights to the airport over 28 days in May and June and about an average of 37 are scheduled to depart from the airport.

Barker may be contacted at [email protected] or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.

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