Tag: west bay

Our New Airport Shows up on Airport-Technology.com

An article on our new airport has surfaced on Airport-Technology.com.

“Environmentalists filed six suits against the development but were assuaged by an undertaking from the airport authority supported by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to create a 40,000-acre (60-square-mile) conservation area around West Bay (9,609 acres of this were provided by the St Joe Company).

“Panama City-Bay County International is expecting to host 600,000 passengers a year by 2020.”

The West Bay Preservation Area will include 33 miles of untouched shoreline and 44 miles of creeks and tributaries.

The plans were approved by Bay County and the State of Florida in 2002 and specific plans for the area were approved in 2003. Following this agreement the FAA issued a final environmental impact statement in May 2006 and a record of decision for the move in September 2006. The US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) issued their 404 permit in August 2007 allowing the construction to begin.”

Read the entire article here.

Airport Update – Pictures of the Terminal Progress

The terminal at the new Panama City Airport located in West Bay in Bay County is moving along at a swift pace.  The percentage complete is just under 20% with all the pilings in place and the second floor structure being formed right now.

Construction of the terminal will last for the duration of the project.

Source: newpcairport.com

Airport Construction Video Update

The new Panama City Bay County International Airport is flying along with more than 50% of the total work complete and only 40% of the total alotted time used.  This places the hard working teams on site about 3 months ahead of schedule.

Anticipation grows daily as the whole site is in a constant state of change.  I was up there Thursday of last week and it looks totally different from the way it looked just 60 short days ago.

I could tell you more, but you’ll just have to watch the video.

View in HD

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.”

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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