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Airport News, "Paducah, Ky.-Area Airport Seeks Funds to Finish Runway Lighting Project"
December 30, 1999
Paducah, Ky.-Area Airport Seeks Funds to Finish Runway Lighting Project
The Paducah Sun, Paduca, KY
Dec. 30--An engineering miscalculation has left Barkley Regional Airport
looking for at least $100,000 to finish replacing antiquated wiring for
runway lighting.
"It's taken a lot more cable to do the job than what we estimated," said
Buddy Upshaw of Florence & Hutcheson Engineering. "We've had several
conversations with FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) officials, and we
hope to meet with them in Memphis next week to try to rectify the
situation."
Upshaw said his firm is responsible for the problem, which arose when a
federal grant was reduced based on what later was found to be underestimated
wiring, conduit, trenching and other parts of the work. The replacement is
about 80 percent finished.
"It's our project, and if we've done anything to cause the airport to get
less (money) than the project has anticipated, we will stay with it," Upshaw
said.
Based on the company's design figures, the grant was reduced to a little
more than $500,000, including various other work at the airport. Although
the grant carries a 15 percent overrun, that money has gone for other
improvements such as runway apron repairs, Upshaw said.
Airport Manager Richard Roof said he will seek the built-in 15 percent
increase, but that won't resolve the miscalculation problem. One option is
to ask the FAA to switch the overage to a future grant, but the agency's
grant rules are very strict and may not permit that.
"If we're not able to get the money, we would still have a system with a
significant amount of new cable with the balance being what was there," Roof
said. "It's 80 percent less likely to have a maintenance or safety problem,
so everything that's been put in will be in use and provide value to the
airport."
The airport started the project because the FAA changed policy to allow for
installing underground lighting in conduit. Under the old system, sections
of wiring damaged by lightning or grounding had to be replaced by splicing,
which created weak points and further deterioration. Roof said finding the
trouble often required extensive digging.
"If you can install this in conduit, it becomes relatively easy to identify
bad sections of cable and replace those sections," he said. "You're back in
business with new cable, so you've rejuvenated the system."
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