Provo Airport to Break Ground for Tower

December 6, 2003

Provo Airport to Break Ground for Tower 
Salt Lake Tribune, UT

    PROVO -- Officials here will have special reasons to celebrate the 100th 
anniversary of manned flight on Dec. 17. 
    On that day, dignitaries at the Provo Airport will break ground on a $2.2 
million control tower. While that won't rank in the annals of history with 
Wilbur and Orville Wright's groundbreaking flight a century ago at Kitty Hawk, 
N.C., it will nonetheless be a significant milestone in Provo. 
    Airport manager Steve Gleason says the city has worked four years trying to 
land a tower. 
    "It means the airport is going to be a much safer place to fly," Gleason 
said Wednesday. "This will give pilots a much higher degree of confidence in 
using our airport." 
    Provo's airport logs between 150,000 and 200,000 takeoffs and landings per 
year, making it the second busiest in the state. Only Salt Lake City 
International Airport, which totals 406,994 takeoffs and landings annually, has 
more. 
    About 55 percent of Provo's traffic stems from 350 students earning their 
wings at the Utah Valley State College flight school. 
    The U.S. Senate this week approved an omnibus appropriations bill, $950,000 
of it for Provo's tower project. 
    Combined with the $1.05 million in federal and state dollars the city 
already has banked toward construction, along with the $200,000 in labor and 
money the city has pledged to the cause, Provo finally has enough to complete 
the 65-foot tower. 
    Initial construction will focus on building an access road to the tower 
site and installing power, sewer and other infrastructure. 
    "We don't anticipate starting construction on the tower itself until 
spring," said Provo Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Parker. "We should have 
the tower in place by this time next year." 
    The control tower not only looms large for Provo, but also for state 
aviation officials who have labeled the lack of a Provo tower as the state's 
top aviation safety issue. 
    Parker says having air-traffic controllers directing flights from a control 
tower will alleviate safety concerns. 
    "Having air-traffic controllers be able to see the whole airport and air 
space at once, and making sure we don't have any close calls . . . , that's the 
main thing having a tower will accomplish," Parker said. 

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