Westside Taxiway Could Be In Rogers Municipal Airport's Future

[Colleen Turner <colleenturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Westside Taxiway Could Be In Airport's Future 
Morning News, AR

Thu, Jan 22, 2004


ROGERS -- Customers of the Rogers Municipal Airport
may have a long-awaited westside taxiway approved for
federal funding in the next two years, the chairman of
the airport's commission said. 

Commission Chairman Alan King said he had discussed
with Lana Logan of the Federal Aviation Administration
the potential for a federal grant that would allow the
commission to build a taxiway on the west side. 

Safety is one of the primary reasons the grant money
may be made available in the next couple of years. 

Tim House, an engineer for CEI, who has worked on
several airport projects, said the current taxiway on
the east side does not meet FAA standards for some of
the jets now landing at the airport. 

The taxiway is supposed to be at least 400 feet from
the runway based on some classes of aircraft now
landing at the airport. 

Adding the west taxiway would allow the airport to
modify the eastside taxiway and keep the airport
operational during the construction. 

King said that new federal regulations for certain
types of airport improvement project grants provide 95
percent of the funding. State grants for the other 5
percent are available as well. 

The project would probably cost several million
dollars and the possibility of getting the entire
project funded through federal and state resources
without having to provide a local amount to match
makes the west taxiway a possibility. 

House said the west taxiway has been on the airport
commission's master plan for many years, but the
expense was prohibitive. 

If the west taxiway were built, it would also allow
for development on the west side of the airport,
providing more room for hangars and other facilities
to allow airport operations to grow, House said. 

In other business, King said that the foundation piers
for an air traffic control tower have been poured and
that contractors expect the large concrete wall panels
to begin arriving in early February. 

"We have told the FAA that we expect to have the tower
open for business in June or July," King said. 

Linda Jennings, airport manager for Beaver Lake
Aviation, said FAA officials had reported that they
have hired a customs agent for the fixed-base operator
at the airport. 

Jennings said she hoped that the customs agent will be
on the job in March.


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