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The first major repairs to the runways at Smith Field in 30 years are about to begin.
Construction will start Monday to rehabilitate the shorter runway at the general aviation airfield on Fort Wayne’s north side.
Federal stimulus money will pay for the bulk of the $1.7 million project along with Federal Aviation Administration grant funds and some local dollars.
Delays in federal funding held up the project this summer and forced the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority, which operates the airfield, to re-bid the project. A second round of bid results was available in June, but stimulus money was still pending.
The authority announced this week that $1.1 million in federal stimulus money will pay to mill and apply new asphalt to a section of the runway. Asphalt will be completely removed and replaced along the remainder of the airstrip.
The new runway will be 40 feet narrower than the existing 100-foot-wide strip to better accommodate the smaller aircraft using the field and to meet current FAA standards, said Tory Richardson, the airport authority’s executive director.
And $444,370 will pay for lighting and drainage work and is part of a routine FAA grant process that also involves a small state and local match. The airport authority will contribute $198,610 to add a taxiway that will connect Ivy Tech’s aircraft maintenance technology hangar to the runways.
In 1994, the airport authority made repairs to the intersection of the field’s two runways. But based on airport records, the last significant runway work was completed in 1976 when the city of Fort Wayne owned the facility, Richardson said.
“It has lived its useful life, and it’s in need of repair now,” he said.
With the repairs, the runway will continue to serve pilots until a longer runway can be built – a project that might not happen for 10 to 20 years. At that point, the repaired strip will be closed, Richardson said.
During construction, the second runway will be available to pilots. However, for about 10 days, the entire airfield will be closed as crews tear up the intersection of the two runways, he said.
Pilots who need to fly at that time can store their planes at Fort Wayne International temporarily, Richardson said.
The entire project should be finished by the end of November, he said.
“We’re excited about it,” Richardson said of the runway work. “It’s another step in the right direction to make sure the airport continues to be viable.”
