Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — Clovis Municipal Airport officials said they have landed an $8 million federal grant that will greatly enhance one of the airport’s runways.
“We’ve been working with the FAA and state aviation department to work on our crosswind runway and the primary apron in the tarmac area,” said Airport Director Kyle Berkshire. “We had been lobbying for renovation of the concrete apron with new markings. There had been a runway extension four or five years ago, so we’ll be working to finish out all of our pavements for commercial services — especially when you consider the last two months jet traffic has increased.”
Berkshire said the project calls for the FAA to fund 90 percent of the grant, with the airport and state paying 5 percent each, and has transitioned to the design phase with KSA Engineering and the FAA.
He said construction could begin next fall.
“This is the biggest project at the airport within the last 20 to 30 years,” said Berkshire, who referenced the airport has six runways — four paved and two turf. “We’ve been talking with the FAA for about five months to get the project off the ground. We really needed this because the apron is in terrible shape. Once the work is done, there will be a new concrete ramp, drainage system and markings.”
KSA Engineers Project Manager Molly Waller said Berkshire is to be commended for due diligence in emphasizing the importance of the project to FAA personnel.
“Kyle came on board and we had been working on an apron reconstruction,” said Waller, who likened the apron to an aircraft parking lot. “He wanted to meet with the FAA staff on the grant. Kudos to Kyle for taking the initiative to demonstrate the need. This is a pretty big deal, because the FAA is not into funding a lot of apron projects, as most communities are forced to take on those responsibilities to address that type of concern. But thanks to Kyle’s efforts, the FAA expanded the scope of work from a commercial apron to the general aviation apron, the taxiways and one primary runway.”
Waller said the grant is funded via the FAA’s $3.25 billion trust fund, which is generated from ticket and fuel taxes and shared among airports throughout the nation.
