Category: Construction Update

Runway Paving Started at New Airport

Construction of the airport continues to proceed several months ahead of schedule with nearly 45% of the heavy civil construction portion of the job complete with only 35% of the time used.

The project is still about 3 months ahead of schedule.

There are currently 203 workers and 138 pieces of equipment on site.

  • Asphalt paving on Taxiway D is started on Monday, October 6, 2008.
  • Asphalt paving on the north end of Runway 34-16 is expected to begin on Thursday, October 9, 2008.
  • The earthwork in the General Aviation area is 99% complete.

The utility package for the airport property will be finished and released the beginning of the week of October 13, 2008.

The mandatory pre-bid meeting for the utility package is scheduled for Wednesday, October 15, at 1:00 p.m. at the current airport. Bid packages are due to the Airport Authority Office by Friday, October 31, at 1:00 p.m.

Highway 79 Bridge Complete

The bridge that spans West Bay on Highway 79 is complete and should open any day now.  The existing brige in place is new, but has been open for several years now.  This new addition is in preparation for future demand of that roadway.

In anticipation of a greater future need, all of the piercaps installed are actually wide enough to accomodate an additional lane.

“It’s stupid,” said one worker on the site, “they’ll have to cut down the entire sidewall in order to expand the bridge [for an addional lane].”  The actual brige structure is in place for an additional lane, but in order to expand, the bridge will have to be closed down, the western most bridge sidewall will have to be destroyed, then planks will need to be laid for the concrete work.

“It will be complex,” said another worker, “but at least the DOT is thinking ahead.”

New Airport Construction Update

Well, with the new website, apparently comes more consistent updates.  Recently posted, the airport is around 3 months ahead of schedule.  With just over 40% of the total construction contract completed on 34% of the total construction TIME has elapsed.

  • 4.5 million cubic yards of excavation has been completed (about 80% of the expected total).
  • 12,500 linear feet of storm sewer is in place and 10,360 tons of asphalt which meets all interim milestones for the project.
  • Earthwork on Runway 16-34 is 99% complete and the asphalt base for the runway will be laid starting on October 6, 2008.  Concrete paving on the runway should begin around November 24, 2008.
  • The limerock base course is complete in the northern half of the terminal parking lot and is continuing in the rest of the parking lot.  Curb installation in the parking lot is nearing 90%.
  • The guard rail is being installed at County Road 388 entrance.
  • 2.5” of asphalt base course is in place along the 11,000 linear feet of the main access road.
  • The security fence around the perimeter of the airport property is approximately 35% complete
  • The building pad for the terminal building is complete.  Construction on the terminal building is scheduled to begin in October pending award of the contract for construction by the Airport Authority Board.

Airport Intentions State 10,000 feet

Airport Authority Approves Preliminary Work on 10,000 foot Commercial Runway

Construction of New Airport Months Ahead of Schedule

The Panama City – Bay County International Airport Authority announced its intentions this week to construct a 10,000-foot main runway at the new airport in West Bay, subject to obtaining necessary permits and approvals. The Authority previously authorized the design of the runway extension which takes this runway from 8,400 feet to 10,000 feet and today approved a thicker runway and centerline lighting to accommodate a 10,000 foot runway.

Earlier, the Airport Authority had approved an 8,400-foot concrete runway with the option to extend it to 10,000 feet, if funding became available. The Florida Legislature, during its 2008 legislative session, awarded the airport an additional $4.5 million in funding to lengthen the runway to 10,000 feet.

The Airport Authority has begun the permitting process for the runway extension.  The change in runway length is not expected to impact the construction schedule.  The Airport Authority currently expects to open the new airport on Memorial Day 2010, with the 10,000 foot runway completed.

“We appreciate the tremendous support we have received from the State of Florida for this new airport,” said Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill.  “The State knows how important this new facility is to the future of air service and economic development in Northwest Florida.  It is an investment in the future of the Panhandle – and the future of Florida. This new runway will be the only 10,000 foot commercial runway in the Northwest Florida region.”

“From the beginning, our goal has been to build a new airport capable of serving the transportation and economic development needs of our region for decades to come,” said Tannehill. “The longer runway will put us in the strongest possible position to compete for better air service and large aviation-dependent economic development projects.”

“Our focus now must turn to marketing our new facility to commercial airlines, transportation and logistics businesses and other aviation and defense companies we have targeted as potential tenants of the new airport,” said Tannehill. “We are committed to improving the regions air service and expanding the economic base of Northwest Florida.”

Construction of the $318 million state-of-the-art airport began in January 2008 and is now nearly three months ahead of schedule. The runway has been graded and paving is scheduled to begin in early October, four months ahead of schedule.

The two-mile long main airport entry road has been completed, 80 percent of the storm sewer pipes are in place and the parking lot’s curbing and lime-rock base will be completed by the end of September.

“Construction of the new airport is going very well,” said Randy Curtis, the airport’s executive director. “It is truly amazing to see 10 years of planning coming to life.”

Airport to begin Paving Runway

Nearly a whopping 3 months ahead of schedule, the 10,000 foot primary runway is only weeks from seeing the first warm morsels of pavement.  Although the current contract is for 8,400 feet, the funding is in place for the full 10,000 feet.  Hopefully this decision will be solidified in the coming weeks.

“Next week, we’ll begin laying pavement test strips for the runway,” said the Senior Project Manager for KBR, Roy Willett.  With over 130 pieces of Caterpillar equipment on site, the project has moved over 4 million cubic yards of material.  “There’s been a great level of cooperation from a local, state, and federal level,” said Willett.  “We don’t feel like we’ve had to pull this project along, like we have others in the past.”  80% of all storm sewer systems have been installed.

The main loop is paved, all except in front of the terminal.  There are heavy utilities that will be in front of the terminal building that need to be installed before the the paving can take place.  The 11,000 foot, 4 lane entrance road from Highway 388 has been completed since June and is now completely replaced the usage of the temporary construction entrance.

Looking at the terminal footprint, I expressed concern about the future expansion of the terminal building the additional airport facilities.  Randy Curtis explained that the terminal building can be expanded to the north and south to accommodate demand and the concourse could V at the end to purvey supplemental gates.  Long term plans also include another runway parallel to the primary runway with room for a terminal similar in size to the main terminal and a “mid-field” terminal as well.

With all the “bad” soil filling the holes where the “good” soil was excavated, the entire construction site is “balanced” in that no dirt had to be taken out, nor brought in.

The 10,000 foot runway will accomodate everything short of an Antonov filled with pipes.

Click here to download the special ‘VIP’ flyer that we were given; includes aerials, layouts, etc.

For those that didn’t notice on the sidebar, I was providing up to the minute updates (where cell service permitted) on my tour of the airport.  If you want instant updates, subscribe to my twitter page and set up your mobile phone to receive text messages whenever I have updates.

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Panama City Beach to get new Library

Members of various civic and community groups have joined with the City of Panama City Beach to plan, design and built a new library building. Chairman Doug Gilmore has met with the approximately 30 members and plans are being made to involve all interested community members in the project.  Gilmore also represents the Beach on the Bay County Library System board.

The Panama City Beach library is a member of the Bay County System and presently serves more patrons than any other branch library in the system.  With only 4500 square feet, the library provided service to 72,590 people during the past year.

Continue reading “Panama City Beach to get new Library” →

New Airport is on Schedule – Construction Update

The construction of the new airport is on schedule with paving of the runway to begin in 12 weeks. With over 40 million cubic yards of material moved since the beginning, still much work is to be done – obviously.

I’m not telling you anymore, you’ll just have to watch the video after the break.

Continue reading “New Airport is on Schedule – Construction Update” →