BLOUNTVILLE — Federal dollars are coming to do a $15 million resurfacing of Tri-Cities Regional Airport's main runway, TCRA Executive Director Patrick Wilson told airport commissioners Thursday.
Wilson said a series of runway closures will be needed this fall and next year to lay a new slab of pavement on the 8,000-foot, 150-foot-wide aircraft landing and takeoff space.
Those closures will typically last from midnight to 5 a.m. when the runway isn't needed, Wilson added.
"It will be a challenging project to coordinate. ... (The resurfacing) will probably last another 20 years," Wilson said of the job.
As the federal government's budget year winds down, TCRA competes for dollars in the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program.
Money in the AIP is drawn from the FAA's Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which is supported by user fees, fuel taxes and other similar revenue sources.
Wilson pointed out TCRA used to receive about $1.8 million annually in AIP dollars.
But in the past two years, TCRA will have received $28 million, according to Wilson.
Last year's largest federal grant ever for TCRA was a $10 million award to extend a south side taxiway next to the main runway.
The main runway resurfacing award is now "the largest grant we've ever seen from the FAA," Wilson told commissioners.
Doing that job will allow TCRA to "reach ahead" and use future federal entitlement dollars for other airfield projects, Wilson added.
TCRA also uses fees from passenger facility charges and state grants to fund airfield projects.