The Tennessee Department of Transportation announced Monday that state aeronautics grants totaling $16,751,893 have been approved for seventeen Tennessee airports including the Smithville Municipal Airport.
PLAY VIDEO BELOW OF AIRPORT MANAGER WESLEY NOKES DESCRIBING THE PROJECT
The City of Smithville has been approved for a $1.5 million project for runway overlay and apron expansion. State grant funding totals $1,350,000 and the local matching obligation is $150,000. The funds will be used to re-pave the airport runway and to pave and expand the aircraft parking area.
Wesley Nokes, Airport Manager, said cracks in the runway will have to be fixed first. “We’re going to be doing a complete airfield overlay but before that can be done several cracks in the runway have to be fixed. The process by which they do that, they’ll saw cut the cracks six inches on either side of it (cracks), completely remove that section of asphalt, take it down to the core, and remove all the old. They’ll come back and fill all that in and pave back over top of it and bring it up to grade with the rest of the runaway. All the cracks have to be fixed before we can start the (overlay) process,” said Nokes.
The apron will also be doubled in size, according to Nokes “The apron which is our parking area for our aircraft, its pretty much been unchanged since the airport was built in the early 70’s. This is the original asphalt that was put here. We’re going to extend this (aircraft parking area) to twice the size that it is right now. Its going to give us twice the original parking area and that will really help us on crowded days,” said Nokes.
The city also recently received a $166,667 grant for apron expansion design with a local matching share of $16,667.
VIDEO BELOW IS WESLEY NOKES DESCRIBING PLANS FOR EXPANSION OF AIRCRAFT PARKING AREA
The grants are made available through the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Division.
The Division administers federal and state funding to assist in the location, design, construction and maintenance of Tennessee’s diverse public aviation system.
Except for routine expenditures, grant applications are reviewed by the Tennessee Aeronautics Commission (TAC), which is a five member board charged with policy planning and with regulating changes in the state Airport System Plan. The board carefully reviews all applications for grants to ensure that the proper state and local matching funds are in place and that the grants will be used for needed improvements.
The TDOT Aeronautics Division has the responsibility of inspecting and licensing the state’s 126 heliports and 75 public/general aviation airports.
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