New airport work ahead of schedule
WEST BAY - Construction at the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport site is three months ahead of schedule, with a current focus on completion of the site's main access road, the airport's relocation project manager said Tuesday.
The Panama City-Bay County International Airport Authority held its regular meeting under a makeshift white tent Tuesday at the West Bay airport relocation site off County 388.
"Hopefully, in two years we'll have meetings here every month. But not in this tent," airport board Chairman Joe Tannehill joked as he started Tuesday's meeting.
Tannehill said the airport board scheduled Tuesday's meeting at the active construction site because "we thought the public would like to see it."
Amid the background noise of excavators transporting loads of dirt, the airport board heard an update from relocation project manager John Zebroski on new construction. Zebroski said that, even though construction started less than five months ago, site development milestones had been met well ahead of schedule.
"We're quite pleased with our progress," Zebroski said.
Zebroski said workers have cleared 1,330 acres at the West Bay site and are filling in the new airport's 2½-mile main access road. There is a 60-foot difference in elevation between the north and south ends of the site, Zebroski said, with the north end 80 feet and the south end 20 feet above sea level.
"This road is about 2 feet below its final grade," Zebroski said.
A first layer of asphalt should be put on the main access road by the end of June, Zebroski said.
The completion of the access road would allow workers to bring in raw materials for other parts of the project, including construction of the airport's terminal building and main runway, he said.
There are 105 pieces of equipment, 110 workers - not counting construction management - and another 30 inspectors on-site, Zebroski said after the meeting.
Workers have excavated 150,000 of the site's needed 850,000 cubic yards of muck, and filled in those areas with solid soil from other parts of the site. Zebroski said all of the fill dirt has been found on-site.
Work on the new airport's main runway, which will be 8,400 feet long with room for expansion, should start by the end of the summer or early fall, according to Zebroski said. "It could be, at its ultimate, 12,000 feet long," he said.
Grant OK'd
After the airport board listened to Zebroski's update, it unanimously approved the acceptance of a $28.2 million Federal Aviation Administration grant for the new airport's second phase of construction. The airport previously accepted a $26.2 million FAA grant for the first construction phase.
FAA funds for the second phase will be applied toward things such as site drainage, runway paving and terminal building construction.
Bay County resident Don Hodges asked the board how much the construction project had cost so far. Tannehill said the issue would be addressed at the board's May 27 workshop, scheduled for 10 a.m. at the current airport's boardroom.
After the meeting, Tannehill said the workshop, in addition to providing a status report on project costs, would deal with on-site environmental issues. He said the airport was within its budget and ahead of schedule with the relocation project.
