Airport Master Plan Gets FAA Approval

The Telluride Daily Planet
Published 7/13/06
www.telluridegateway.com

By Katie Klingsporn

The Telluride Regional Airport Authority has been plodding along doggedly for six years in an effort to complete its Airport Master Plan update, jumping through one bureaucratic hoop after another in order to turn the plan into reality.

This effort was rewarded recently with a major milestone, as the Federal Aviation Administration approved the Airport Layout Plan - which includes reconstruction of the runway - and its accompanying environmental assessment. Approval from the FFA was necessary for the plan to proceed in the future.

This wraps up a lengthy planning and approval process, and opens the doors to the next steps: designing and reconstruction of the runway and its immediate surroundings. Airport manager Rich Nuttall said he's relieved this weighty task is behind him.

Changes called for in the plan will entail lengthening the existing runway from 6,870 to 7, 070 feet and widening the safety area - which is the region on either side of the runway - from 300 to 500 feet, as well as constructing a new access road beneath the runway, removing obstructions in violation of FAA regulations and constructing a noise berm. “They're all safety related,” Nuttall said. “The FAA has mandated that we do these safety upgrades, so this is the whole process that we've been going through to meet those goals and get the project approved.”

The enlargement of the runway will also increase the airport code from Category B to Category D, Nuttall said, which would technically allow small regional jets to use the runway. But because of the high altitude and complications that go along with it, this use would be highly restricted to winter use only, he said.

The Airport Authority has already taken the next step for the project by applying for an FAA grant for the design of the reconstructed runway. Once the design work is completed, the authority will then apply for another grant for actual construction. Nuttall expects that the construction grant will be applied for next year, and that construction could begin as early as April 2007. However, start and completion of the project is wholly dependent on FAA funding. Aside from being the regulating agency for aviation, the FAA is also the agency that grants federal funds for such improvements.

Planning for the reconstruction will include a phasing plan, which will allow the runway to be open during the winter and summer season. The Authority anticipates that the runway will be closed from the end of ski season in 2007 through June 30 and again from Sept. 15 until Thanksgiving over a period of five years. The goal is to keep the Airport closed only during the spring off-season and have it running during the fall off-season, but the authority is keeping both options open.